


Comfortable Silence Is So Overrated

by stonerkuma



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Attempted Blood Magic, Cigarettes, Dead parent(s), Drug Use (Marijuana), Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, Gundam risks his life trying to save an animal, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Past Child Abuse, Punk, Slow Burn, Toxic friendship, chapter titles are songs that fit the chapter’s vibe, consensual injury, i know very very little about how japanese college works, junko is a bad friend but boy is she sexy, my other oneshot fic inspired this wider universe and the two aren’t related, not tagging minor ships for now bc i don’t wanna clog their tags, not too much noncompliance but i think it’s enough to tag, only tagging soudam now bc it’s endgame and y’all need a reason to read this right lol, rating might be changed down the road, sorry if you find errors i promise i proofread but i miss things sometimes, tags to be added as they become relevant, they’ve never gone to Hope’s Peak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2019-11-13 19:02:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18037067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonerkuma/pseuds/stonerkuma
Summary: Slow-burn, college AU Soudam with some Sonia shipping abound! Relatively low stakes stuff, pretty self-indulgent but hey we have fun.





	1. Intergalactic Planetary

Kazuichi Souda wasn’t the type of person to value education over vocation. While some of his peers throughout his schooling tried their absolute hardest to achieve perfect grade point averages, he studied maybe once or twice every now and again and satisfied himself with the average marks he received. It wasn’t until shortly before graduating high school that he learned that the local community college, Towa Junior College, offered free and unfettered access and open study sessions inside of the state-of-the-art mechanics lab and auto garage, so long as one tested into the school with passing marks

It was the local college situated in the same town that his high school had been in. He was aware that his all-time best friend and eventual roommate, Hajime Hinata, was working on enrolling and decided to saddle alongside him. They studied over long, tedious hours for the extensive entrance exam. College was a cinch, but only after you got in. There had to be a catch to every good thing, Kazuichi knew this; it was because of this that he didn’t feel burdened by the task at hand, he just knew he had to conquer it. 

Hinata had always seen college as the next logical step of his life. He was always in the most advanced portion of mediocre students, or in the most mediocre portion of advanced students, and he always tried to make up for what he could not supply in raw ability with hard work and dedication. When Souda came to him and asked if they could work together to try and get into the school, he knew better than any naturally-gifted tutor how to show Souda the right way of learning things — of knowing things, because like Souda, Hinata had to come from a place of ignorance into understanding. It was that sensation of knowing that Hinata would continue to chase for the rest of his life. 

Through Hinata’s diligence, Souda and he both passed the entrance exam and were granted admission into Towa Junior College. Now, they were both in their second years, Souda leisurely working through an undeclared major while Hinata participated in as many classes as he could fit. He quickly met a friend, Makoto Naegi. Naegi was of a similar background, but felt that his admittance into the college was from pure luck. Naegi didn’t intend to waste this luck and took his studies very seriously. He and Hinata were kindred souls and became quick comrades and collaborators from the day they exchanged pleasantries in the philosophy section of the library.

Souda, however, spent nearly all of his time inside of the garage. Few people attended the school to take advantage of this particular facility, only about 4 of them entering per year for this distinct purpose. The building that was the garage was a large hangar of a structure that had about fifteen sliding metal entrances leading into individual mechanical quarters like one would see in an auto shop. Because of the scant amount of students and the massiveness of projects undertaken in a mechanical garage, it was imperative to find a buddy and work with them on these things. 

He never expected to become somewhat friends with such a personality as Miu Iruma. She was a loud, vulgar girl with a propensity for dirty humor that he couldn’t help but crack up at. On his first day in the garage, she spotted him across the building and hollered:

‘Hey you! Virgin in pink!’

She was referring to his shoulder-length mess of straight, dragonfruit-colored hair that’s he tried to hide under a black beanie.

‘Come over here! Yer mine this semester,’ she declared with her hands on her hips, baby pink jumpsuit tied around her waist so her wife-beater tank top was exposed. 

Kazuichi could have blushed right then, seeing such a beautiful girl with her wild dirty blonde hair up in a ponytail standing declaratively in a garage. The operative phrase here is “could have,” for the very next thing she proceeded to say was:

‘Don’t make me march over there and pull you over by your dick!’

Souda wasn’t attracted to vulgarity, he was attracted to regality. He was attracted to a commanding presence coupled with patient manners and a soft heart. He was attracted to a sense of restraint paired with a question of what the person is capable of. Much like is longtime crush, Sonia Nevermind. Perhaps it was the best thing for Souda to maintain a friendship with Miu, though, as he was attending the school solely for the garage and to let someone ruin it because of a weird romantic encounter would negate all of his efforts. 

Presently, he and Miu were good friends and, if one could venture to say, a proper pair of mad lads. It was a foggy September morning when Miu burst into the garage about thirty minutes late from opening. Souda didn’t find her absence remarkable, as the two of them had just finished their months-long project and had finished making the final tweaks on their custom computers before taking them home for individual personalization. However she burst in all the same, jolting him from his idle dismantling of a microwave.

“Souda! Souda, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

He was almost too stunned to speak, “Ah! I’m just— taking this microwave apart. Don’t just come in here all sudden like that, Miu! It’s nine in the morning, y’know? I don’t have all my bearings yet.”

Miu groaned, exasperated, “No, you fuckin’ idiot I know what you’re doing right now, I have eyes. I’m asking what you’re doing! Why are you not taking total and complete advantage of the girl genius before you?! And not like that you little perv!”

Souda put his hands in front himself, “N-No I wasn’t saying — Miu what are you talking about?!”

Miu dropped all of her things on the work table and walked right up to Souda, inches away from him. He shrunk against the counter behind him. Miu grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Souda, do you not ‘get’ that you are in the presence of one of the most remarkable inventors of her era?! You’ve seen it yourself, I’m more fuckin’ renowned than anyone in the region. My ideas are always original and my execution is flawless.”

He nodded, recalling some of her greatest hits, “Yeah, Miu, I know. But I still don’t get what you—”

“If you ‘know,’ then why haven’t you tried to use me to my fullest potential?!” she asked, accusatory.

Souda blinked at her, lost for words. She let go of his shoulders and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer. 

“Miu,” he said slowly, still perplexed, “I don’t really—”

“Well it doesn’t matter!” she declared, walking back over to her bag and taking out some paper to sprawl across her workstation, “because I’ve blueprinted my magnum opus.”

Souda walked over curiously, looking at the blueprints on the table. The first couple that he noticed just outlined power cells and fuel sources, then the next showed material required to make an artificial nervous system and a metal body to encase it all; it was at this point that Souda looked up at Miu, realizing what all of this was leading to.

“ ‘re you gonna make a robot?” he asked, a smirk forming that exposed his sharp teeth. 

“Not just a robot, a robot with such an advanced A.I. that it can think for itself, make judgments for itself, feel for itself, etcetera.”

“And you know this, or….”

“It’s a hypothesis,” she said quickly, looking away from Souda and organizing some of the papers, she always knew more sophisticated words than she led with, “After all, this entire thing is hinging on me figuring out the mathematical formula for human consciousness. I mean, if anyone can take a crack at it and figure it out, it’s me, but it’s gonna take a while.”

Souda looked at his friend; she looked more resolute than he had ever seen her before. She seemed sure that, if this wouldn’t initially work, she would at least have somewhere to start and she wanted to proceed regardless of the frayed edges of her plans. 

“So, what’s the plan?” he asked.

Miu grinned at him, silently thanking him for his cooperation.

“Well, we’re gonna have to create an artificial nervous system from wires, but I’ll worry about that. I’m also gonna need to collect scrap metal and shit like that to create the body. Nothing fancy, but it needs to be malleable at least so that he can keep his structure—”

“He?” Souda chucked, “You’ve already assigned traits to this thing?”

Miu blushed, and Souda knew why.

“What’d you name him?” he asked.

She chewed her cheek and looked away from him, “K1-B0. But we can call him Kiibo.”


	2. I Can Make You a Man

Three months of work yielded little-to-no results. In due time, they had created a mechanical body roughly four inches shorter than either of them, who were rather close in height themselves. The body had a charming likeness to a robotic young man, but had no more further function than a glorified nightlight. 

Miu set out ravenously on her hunt to find a concrete, mathematical answer to human consciousness that not only could exist, but could also be imbued upon with ideas and have the ability to formulate opinions on those ideas. She dragged Souda with her to the library every day for three weeks, the both of them scavenging the philosophy section for answers to the ultimate predicament. To no one’s surprise except Miu’s, they found no definitive answer. She was a person who thought primarily in equations and constants; to her, there was very little that numbers could not explain.

But within the realm of the things numbers could not even begin to describe dwelled her question and the answer they sought. She had to find an expert on such matters.

“Souda,” she said one day as they walked out of the library and back down to the garage, “D’you still talk to those goth kids from your high school?”

His cheeks went a little pink at the remembrance of who she was referring to — Sonia Nevermind and Gundam Tanaka. Sonia was a noble and dignified foreign-born blonde girl that, at one time, dressed herself in elaborate dresses and petticoats, which she had since replaced with long skirts and knitted sweaters. He had been smitten with Sonia since they had entered the same class. Soon after she arrived, Hinata informed Souda that he was being a weirdo with his incessant compliments and the way that he treated Sonia as if she were a faberge egg on a windowsill; a delicate object existing to be admired and protected. Hinata insisted he leave her alone as he explained the complexities of the situation. So, the remainder of high school was spent with him admiring her from afar, a trend that continued into college.

Another trend that continued was her freaky little boyfriend Gundam Tanaka. Gundam was a tall, semi-built man with an affinity toward all that was dark and mysterious. He could be remembered in high school striding alongside Sonia, a long trench coat and violet scarf trailing behind him like a shadow as he glided. He had a peculiar hair pattern that looked like a sunflower seed, which he had taken to styling very strategically in his teen years. Nowadays, he just slicked the whole thing back and still wore a big purple scarf (usually for hamster sneaking purposes), just with everyday dark clothing. Souda couldn’t phantom what attracted the two of them to one another. In fact, the only things they had in common were their interests and hobbies, otherwise they were total opposites. 

For instance, Gundam was stoic and a little scary-looking. He had a red eye and a grey eye, the grey eye sporting a long scar that started on his forehead and ended on his cheek. Souda and his buddies had always assumed Gundam wore a contact lens in the red eye to seem more goth or something, but this seemed increasingly less likely the more years that went by with him the red eye still there. He had piercings along his ears, wore necklaces with occult symbols, sported a little bit of eyeliner; when he wasn’t around Sonia, he could be seen walking quickly across campus with earbuds in and a stone-faced expression that kept really anyone from speaking to him. No one really spoke to him anyway if they could help it, because they knew that if they did, they’d be forced to sit there and translate his phrases as though he were a walking Shakespearean character.

Sonia, however, was not the same. She had been an adamant member of student government in high school, and this spirit of leadership was something that carried over with her into her higher education. In fact, she now served as the student representative for her school on the Board of Education that met with all of the colleges in the region. She had always been a very cordial, bubbly person that spoke just a little too formally. She was very approachable, perhaps it was that quality which Souda was so attracted to. But where one force is attracted, the other is repelled. Sonia spent the first few years of high school largely avoiding Souda until he finally backed off and became just another classmate she didn’t really talk to. She was pretty much fine with him now, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if he ever decided to speak to her. 

“Mis— Sonia is not a goth, Miu. Her boyfriend is,” Souda corrected, grimacing.

Miu gave him a look like he was the biggest idiot in the world, “Okay, dipshit, then explain the big ass pentacle she wears around her fuckin’ throat?”

Souda chewed his cheek, looking down and away from her as he held the door to the garage open for her. He didn’t much like to think about the fact that Gundam had got tied Sonia up in the whole occult thing. It wasn’t just because the mere idea of any supernatural made Souda’s blood run cold and his stomach turn to stone, it was because he was afraid for Sonia and the things he assumed she had sacrificed and seen in becoming a bonafide member of the occult. 

Souda and Miu sat across from one another by the slab that beheld Kiibo. She looked down at him sadly, her hand cupping his metal cheek. Souda knew the feeling, he too had become attached to the robot and found himself also hoping as hard as she was that their project would work. He put a hand on Kiibo’s knee.

“We have ta’ try and give him life, Souda,” Miu said softly, not looking away from Kiibo. It almost would have been sweet if she didn’t sound so much like Frankenstein.

Souda shrugged, “I mean, we can get to work on some code and talk to the people in computer sciences to give him a real hearty mainframe. We can make him so complex that he almost seems real—”

“Fuck ‘almost!’” she snapped, glaring at Souda, “I dunno who the fuck you’re gettin’ me confused with, but I’m not a half-assed typa bitch! If I wanna give him a real life and soul and consciousness then I’m gonna fuckin’ give him that!”

He put his hands in front of himself, “Hey! Don’t go yelling all of a sudden, I was only tryin’ to—”

“Well here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re gonna tell me where Blow-nia and Dum-dum hang out and we’re gonna go over there and tell them we need a seance.”

“Her name’s not—wait, a _seance_?!” he asked shrilly, grabbing both sides of his beanie, “We can’t do a fuckin’ seance Miu, what if we unleash somethin’ bad?!”

She shrugged, standing up and getting ready to set out again, “Then we get a super cool, demon-possessed ultra fighting robot that does whatever we say.”

Souda had to admit that sounded pretty cool. Miu was already walking away, so he rushed to catch up with her. The idea turned over anxiously in his brain. On one hand he’d have to take part in a ritual wherein he might pass out of fear, on the other hand he’d get to hang out with Sonia for a couple of hours if she agreed to help.

“They’re usually on the seats by the fountain near the botanical gardens,” he muttered. 

When they stepped outside, it had begun to rain. They had to take the long way under the covered concrete path that led around the campus; if it were dry, they’d be able to cut across and down. It gave Souda time to calm himself down, which he was grateful for. About ten minutes later, they rounded a curve to see Gundam and Sonia sitting side by side on a bench beneath the awning on the concrete path, looking out at the non-functioning fountain and their usual, now-soaked table in the rain as they had a quiet conversation. Souda noticed Gundam wasn’t holding her hand and decided he was a fool for that. He looked closer to see that both of them were each actually holding a fat little hamster, petting it leisurely. Sonia heard the click of Miu’s shoes and looked up at them. 

“Oh! Hello Kazuichi,” she beamed, standing up to meet them. She turned to Miu and stuck out her hamsterless hand, “I am Sonia Nevermind, and you are?”

Miu shook her hand casually, which Souda envied because he was turned scarlet red from the simple fact that she greeted him first. “I’m Miu, Miu Iruma.”

Sonia turned the name over a few times in her mind to remember it and returned to petting the hamster, “Well it is a pleasure to meet you. What brings you two out here?”

Kazuichi swallowed the dryness in his throat, “W-We actually have a question for you and uh, Gundam.”

Gundam was already turned around on the bench, still sitting as he faced them while petting his hamster. Sonia gasped, remembering she hadn’t introduced Gundam properly. 

“Goodness, where are my manners?” she went over to him and took her spot next to him again, touching his forearm as she spoke, “Miu, this is Gundam Tanaka, Overlord of Ice and Darkness!”

Gundam went pink at the honorific, moving his face beneath his scarf. “Pleasure,” he mumbled, looking away.

Souda felt ill from casual display of affection, and he was sure that Gundam thought he was real cute doing that little tsundere move, but he wasn’t fooled.

“What is your question?” Sonia inquired.

Souda rocked his weight from foot to foot, “Well uh, y’see Miu ‘nd I have been working on a robot down in the garage and we’re tryna make it, like… I dunno the word—”

“We need you guys to do a seance on Kiibo so he’ll have a soul!” Miu said suddenly and desperately. 

Sonia raised her eyebrows, not expecting that. She looked at Gundam, who had a smirk forming on his face. He chuckled.

“I have communed with dark forces in the Other plane for many reasons, but not ever in all my years as a warlock have mortals such as yourselves approached me with such a request. Hmmm, bestowing mortality… I do believe I possess such an incantation,” he turned to consult Sonia, “But would such a spell take form on an automaton?”

She thought for a moment, “I think it is ‘worth a shot.’ We should do further research into whether or not our connection to the Other World will be compromised, but otherwise I see no harm in trying.”

They looked back to the mechanics. “We will do it!” cheered Sonia. 

Souda didn’t know how to feel about that.


	3. Immortal Corrupter

They decided to hold the ritual inside of the garage so they didn’t have to move Kiibo’s body around too much, since he was quite heavy. Besides, they all decided to keep him plugged in and turned on during the seance, as it was the closest thing to life that they could imbue upon him already and only the outlets in the garage could be trusted to not fault out. 

Gundam and Sonia had a lot of rigorous research to do in preparing for the ritual, as neither of them had ever heard of such a thing being attempted. The ritual had to be delayed two weeks from the day they agreed to perform it because they were both missing required texts and had to order them online. Miu and Souda decided to pass the time by refining Kiibo’s body. Souda improved the singular helmet-like piece that was his hair by fitting it with many flat, triangular metal pieces that could move with Kiibo, giving him a more natural appearance. He also disguised a little antenna as an ahoge, so that Kiibo could communicate almost telepathically. Miu undertook a much more challenging project: weaponry. Souda refrained from telling her that this feat may have been pointless, especially when the weapon she was crafting was a gun made for blasting plasma rays with a reload rate of a half second. How or why Miu was attending community college and not leading a small army was beyond Souda, but he was glad to be on her good side most of the time. 

Gundam had told them that their wait would be long, but when the time came, they’d know. Sonia took it upon herself to translate his cryptic message and assured they’d be done researching by the time the full moon came around; the last one of the year. Her scheduling seemed to be right on the mark, as the day before the full moon, both Miu and Souda (much to his excitement) received a text message from Sonia saying the ritual was all planned and ready for execution. Souda was thrilled that Sonia was in personal correspondence with him that didn’t involve telling him to buzz off, but he was also unshakably terrified of the ritual. Things that had mechanisms or ways of working that perplexed Souda made him instantly nervous, but the unknowable nature of supernatural forces made his skin crawl. There was no knowing if something would go terribly wrong, no way of even predicting something like that. He tried to soothe himself with the idea that if anyone was going to be able to do this right, it would be Sonia and Gundam. 

The night of the ritual, Miu and Souda stayed behind long after the last people left the huge garage. Custodians had taken the wastebasket an hour before the school was officially closed for the night. The two of them had spent several all-nighters working tirelessly over Kiibo, so they knew that no one was going to come down there tonight and hassle them if they hadn’t tried to already. It was raining spottily that night, the rain sometimes going from a light trickle to a full-blown, short-lived storm; the full moon sometimes became visible from behind quickly moving clouds. Miu and Souda were on either side of the slab that held Kiibo up; Souda was smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves. Miu moved a strand of her long blonde hair out of her face held his metal hand lightly, looking deeply into his stoic face. It reminded Souda of how someone might look visiting a comatose patient in a hospital; Miu was desperate for him to wake up. She had dreams about what Kiibo’s sentience would mean for her; she’d be lauded and recognized for the rest of history, nevermind if his quasi-humanity was bestowed upon him through supernatural means. Souda thought a Kiibo would be just as effective and remarkable with an artificial intelligence, but Miu wouldn’t resort to it until every effort to give him the real thing was exhausted.

Gundam and Sonia finally arrived around 11:30, both of them carrying carrying a box each. They were both already in floor-length black cloaks, giving them a floating appearance as they walked across the garage over to their workstation. Sonia gasped, smiling wide as she hurried to set her things down. 

“Is this him? Is this your creation?” she asked excitedly, rushing next to Miu and examining the robot, stroking his leg in awe.

Miu smiled proudly, standing and putting her hands on her hips, walking around to Souda’s side so Sonia could take her seat. 

“Yup! That’s my boy right there! His name’s K1-B0, but we call him Kiibo. He’s probably my proudest creation like, ever. Hard to think I did it practically all by my fuckin’ self,” she boasted.

Souda shot her a look, blowing his stream of smoke away from Sonia.

Miu rolled her eyes and smirked, “And I guess Souda was helpful too.”

Sonia laughed, which made Souda blush. He looked over at Gundam, who was rifling around in the boxes and pulling out candles, candelabras, and chalk. He, like Sonia, was wearing several necklaces of different lengths with pendants of symbols the likes of which Souda had never seen. Gundam grabbed a mass of black cloth and walked over to the slab with the others. He held the mass out to them.

“These, mortals, are shields necessary to protect you from the vast horror and calamity that is the darkness we will be dwelling within on this eve. Pray, affix these to your visages such that the Queen of Shadows and myself have done,” he instructed. 

They just blinked at Gundam. Miu tried to clear her ear with her pinky finger, thinking she might have heard him wrong. Sonia noticed their confusion and laughed awkwardly.

“Um, what Gundam is trying to say is that those are your cloaks and that we wear them for protection during the ritual. And do not hood yourself until we begin,” she explained.

Miu and Souda ‘oooooh’d in unison and each took a cloak from Gundam’s outstretched arms. Sonia approached Miu to help her tie it and Souda bit his cheek out of jealousy. 

“It’s cool of you guys to do this for us by the way, especially on a friday night,” Souda said, swishing is cloaking absentmindedly.

“Oh no it is truly alright, Kazuichi, we enjoy things like this!” Sonia insisted, putting a hand on Kiibo’s shoulder.

Miu smirked, “Yeah, but I’m sure there’s other shit you’d _enjoy_ doing with your boyfriend on a friday night.”

Sonia’s eyebrows raised with surprise and Gundam went scarlet, eyes wide. Souda noticed he wasn’t wearing his usual scarf as Gundam shielded his blush with the edge of his cloak as he turned swiftly back to the boxes. Sonia gave another awkward laugh.

“Well, you see, um— Gundam and I are just good friends,” Sonia explained, tiptoeing around what she thought should be the next obvious conclusion.

Miu understood, “Ah! I-I’m sorry, I’m so stupid sometimes I should just be _punished_ for it!”

Miu went on with her strangely sexual apology, as she was wont to do, but Souda didn’t hear any of it. The only thing reverberating through is mind like a freshly-rung bell was the fact that his longtime conspiracy that Sonia and Gundam had been dating was officially rebuked. Myth-fucking-busted. The doors to Sonia’s heart were wide open and taking visitors. Souda decided this might very well have the best news he’d heard in a long time and he planned to shoot his shot, given they survived the seance. Gundam took the chalk over to the large empty space between their workstation and the next and—from memory—began drawing out a large, complex rune onto the cement ground. Souda watched him as he set the candelabras into cross-sections and corners while Miu gushed to Sonia about all of Kiibo’s specs. Gundam set a satin pillow in the middle and walked back to the slab.

“You, hair of hibiscus,” Gundam said, pointing at Souda, “I require your assistance in transporting your automaton from where he currently resides to the center of the symbol I have etched onto the earth.”

Souda ashed out his cigarette and held back a groan, because the robot really was quite heavy and he didn’t much feel like trying to move him, “Okay, we have to pick him up like a real person, ‘cuz his joints will dislocate if we’re too rough with ‘im. You grab under his shoulders, I’ll take the legs.”

Gundam nodded and went around the slab. He slipped his arms beneath Kiibo’s and around the robot’s cold torso and waist. Souda was surprised by how little work he had to do in carrying the legs; Gundam must’ve been really strong. Something imperceptible within him twitched. They approached the center while Sonia and Miu placed long white candles in the candelabras, and Gundam positioned Kiibo’s head so he was flat on the floor, satin pillow just above him. Souda trailed his power chord to the nearest outlet while Gundam grabbed the box he hadn’t reached into and a container of salt from the other. Kiibo’s eyes lit up blue as he turned on. He handed Sonia the box and used the container of salt to trace over the guide made by the chalk. Miu rocked from foot to foot with a mixture of anxiety and excitement, Souda trembled slightly with fear. Sonia guided them all to different spots around the symbol with herself at Kiibo’s feet, Souda on his left, Miu at his head, and Gundam on his right. She placed the box on the ground next to her.

“So, there are a few things about this ritual that set it apart from others,” Sonia began, “We took bits and pieces from existing rituals that dealt with soul transferrals, transmutation, and, of course, exorcism, but we found that this ritual is going to require a bio-sacrifice of the uh, _physical_ sort. Since there is no biotic material for the soul to cling to within Kiibo, it will need to be leant to him—”

“I’ll do it,” Miu said resolutely.

Souda sighed with relief. Sonia beamed at her and Gundam gave her a little smirk. Sonia approached her, procuring a small jeweled dagger from somewhere under her cloak. 

“I will give you a little slice on your arm and you will rub it across his forehead and chest, okay?” she asked, bubbly as ever. 

Miu nodded and gulped hard. Sonia took her arm and made a small cut on the fleshiest part of her forearm. Miu gave a short hiss before dipping her fingers in the blood and walking carefully over to Kiibo, not touching the salt lines. She squatted down, rubbed the blood across where she was instructed and returned to her spot. The storm outside grew loud, Souda shivered harder. Gundam walked over to the box next to Sonia and procured from it four hamsters. 

“Wh-What? What do _hamsters_ have to do with a seance? We’re not gonna like… sacrifice them ar—”

“Fool!” Gundam snapped, “How dare you insinuate I would ever, in this life or any other, rather than vanquish those who seek to hurt animals, hurt them myself? I would find it hilarious if it wasn’t such a baseless and insulting accusation. These may appear to your mortal eyes as mere rodentia, but I know better. These are the Four Dark Devas of Destruction!” He walked carefully into the ruin to set the fat little hamsters on the pillow above Kiibo’s head and they looked at the robot curiously. “These horrorterrors will allow for safe passage of purity and defense against evil while the transition is taking place.”

Souda looked to Sonia for a translation, but she didn’t give one. She instructed them to kneel, hood themselves, and bow their heads as she lit the candles. Souda suddenly grew very anxious that someone would come in unexpectedly, regardless of the fact that it was midnight. Sonia took her position in her spot as she finished lighting the candles, shut out the workroom lights, and clasped her hands together. They were all silent for a ten-minute eternity until the energy in the room made a pronounced shift. Souda felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He fought back a yelp as Gundam suddenly began to speak.

“Oh Great, Vast Emptiness. Oh all-encompassing, ever-shrouding Void, lend us your impartial ear. Hear our insignificant static among the great noise and grant us the privilege of hearing our counsel.” 

The wind outside howled. Gundam chuckled lowly. Souda developed goosebumps.

“We implore, while the heavenly bodies are in resounded fullness, that you bestow upon this mechanical cadaver a genuine essence. Within him is the sweat of his father and the blood of his mother, just as every living being in this earthly realm. Oh unknowable hellbeasts that lurk in the spaces between matter, come from your howling place at the moon and into the body of this automaton. Bestow into this vessel of wire and mechanism a working soul, will and desire.”

The building shook, rain fell in a clatter. Sonia shifted excitedly. The blue light of Kiibo’s eyes flickered and Miu gasped, clutching her hands together and staring hard at him. Souda held his breath, hands fisted into the bottom of his cloak over his thighs so he kept from trembling. They all sat quietly, eyes fixed on the robot in the center of the room. The seconds crept by into minutes and the rain slowed. The Devas squeaked quietly at Kiibo’s head. Gundam drummed his painted nails nervously on his knees. Ten more minutes passed without occurrence and Sonia sighed. Gundam nodded as if it were a statement to agree with. 

“I am sorry,” Sonia said quietly.

Miu stared into her lap, wiping her eyes and sniffing, “S’alright.”


	4. Me, You, and Steve

The failed seance disappointed all four of them to varying degrees, so much so that hardly any of them were interested with the new year’s passing. Gundam was concerned about his connections with the Other Side, that they might be compromised from such an unorthodox ritual. Souda had nightmares for about a week after the ritual and, though nothing actually happened and the occult magic was never proven to be real, worried about whether or not a curse was cast upon him. Miu didn’t come to campus for the following week and when Souda paid her a visit to make sure she was alive, she was holed up in her bedroom, laying in bed and living on the largest bag of clementine oranges he had ever seen. Sonia was truly regretful of the fact that she couldn’t make it work, even after all of their tireless research; but what she felt worse about was how disappointed and sullen Miu was. In fact, she took it upon herself to help Miu straighten up her apartment and try to feel better after another weekend had come and she had yet to see the inventor make any progress emotionally. She texted this to Souda as an explanation as to why she messaged him asking for Miu’s address. Souda sighed dreamily at his phone; Sonia was so caring.

“What are you smiling about?” Hinata asked teasingly from across their dining room table. 

The two of them were sitting on the shorter ends of the rectangular table. In front of Hinata were handwritten notes, a couple of books, and his laptop. He was preparing for an upcoming forensics competition and had to make sure he was thoroughly prepared for the debate portion. Souda had scrap parts, wires, and a soldering iron at his end and was trying to construct a ‘get well soon’ present for Miu.

Souda smiled proudly at Hinata, “I’ll have you know that _the_ Miss Sonia Nevermind is texting me.”

Hinata quirked an eyebrow and chuckled, “Is that so? And would she happen to be texting you some kind of informal Cease and Desist order, or…?”

“C’mon bro don’t just go sayin’ stuff like that, I’m not so bad anymore! In fact, _she_ was the one who asked for _my_ number!” Hinata just looked at him until he clarified, “So that she could update me on the seance ‘er whatever.”

“Mm,” Hinata hummed. “How did that go, by the way?” I haven’t noticed any books flying off the shelves or doors shutting on their own, so you weren’t cursed or anything. That’s good right?”

Hinata laughed nervously, but they both darted their eyes around the room. Souda was more superstitious than him by far, but neither of them had enough nerve against things like that to be joking about it. They had another friend, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu—their third musketeer, who was deeply skeptical and not fazed by such ideas, but he moved a few hours away after they all graduated and wasn’t around to snap them both out of their paranoia. 

“Y-Yeah, nothin’ happened. I dunno if that’s good or not though ‘cuz Miu’s real bummed out about it,” he grabbed the semi-ovular device that he was soldering wires into, “That’s why I’m tryna make her somethin’.”

Hinata returned to his work to distract himself, “Well that’s nice of you. Makoto’s gonna come over later if that’s cool. We need to go over some stuff before the meet next week. We’re going against Toko _and_ Byakuya, not to mention their new teams. Luckily we managed to convince Kyoko to join the team, so maybe we’ll have some hope there.”

Souda was already soldering away again and hardly heard any of what Hinata said.

—

Come Sunday, Souda had constructed Miu’s gift to his satisfaction and made his way over to her place with the present, as well as a strawberry rolled cake for Sonia (whose presence was just coincidence and totally not the reason why he stayed up night and day to complete the gift before the weekend was over). He rung the doorbell and rocked excitedly on his feet. Miu griped about holding horses and stomped to the door—she was definitely feeling better. She swung the door open and put a hand on her hip.

“What’re _you_ doin’ here?” she asked suspiciously, eyeing the presents in his arms.

“What, a guy can’t swing by and wish a colleague well?” Souda asked, feigning innocence.

She narrowed her eyes, “Sure, but somethin’ tells me you’re here to better your chances at gettin’ balls-deep in some princess pus-” 

“Miu!” Souda bleated, face flushed red, “Don’t go saying stuff like that so loud! What if she heard you? She might get the wrong idea!”

Miu tossed the door open wider and turned to walk back into the apartment, “Mm-hmm, you comin’ in ‘er what?”

Souda jumped and followed her, shutting the door behind him. The walked through the small foyer and into the living room, which looked immediately larger and cleaner than the last time he had seen it. The blinds to the large sliding glass door that lead to the balcony were open, and a candle that smelled like fresh linen was burning. Sonia was sitting on the couch; Souda thought she looked right in place among the cleanliness around her. She stood up to meet him. 

“Hello Kazuichi!” she greeted, hugging him around his neck as he awkwardly patted her back with his full hands. “I see you have bought gifts!”

He was still blushing as he set the parcels on the coffee table, “Ha, y-yeah. The square box is for Miu and the rectangle is for you.”

The girls both sat next to each other on the couch before the table. Souda sat in the chair next to them. Sonia, cordial as ever, waited to open her gift until Miu had opened hers. Miu lifted the lid on the pink box and procured from it a little robot about the size of a shoe. The robot had an oval-shaped head that was fixed horizontally on a rod that led into the continuous track that would move it around. Connected to the rod was four independent arms that had C-shaped grips on the ends that resembled the hands of Lego figurines. The ovular head had a little digital screen on it that stretched across either end of the face. The entire thing was painted silver with the seams and details outlined green, much like Kiibo’s colors.

“It’s to hold tools and stuff,” Souda explained as she took it from the box, “It’s voice-activated, so all you hafta do is tell it to come and it’ll come. It takes D batteries and that one should last you about a month.” Miu just looked at it. Souda had to fill the silence after a moment, “Y-You can call it whatever you want, but I started callin’ it Kiibaby when I was workin’ on it so—” 

“Souda,” Miu butted in, looking at him finally with a little smile on her face, “you’re fuckin’ crazy if you think I’m not callin’ this little guy Kiibaby.”

She got up and thanked him with a quick hug and took Kiibaby over to her shelf to display him until she went back to the garage on Monday and took him with. Sonia was beaming at Souda, obviously proud of him. If you were to ask Sonia how she felt about Souda four years ago, she would have withered and sped away without answering. She would have never pinned him to be the type to make such a thoughtful gift, especially not back then. She was proud of Souda, not merely for being kind to a friend, but for who he had become. She was proud of the way that he showed how he cared, how he wasn’t so insecure to do things like wearing his glasses when he worked anymore, and especially, how he learned to let just let her be. In doing that, he had allowed Sonia more room to be able to see him as he was: a thoughtful, kind-hearted doofus. 

“Kazuichi, that is an incredible invention! I cannot wait to see what you got for me,” Sonia said, flipping the lid on the box. She gasped down at the cake, “You did not tell me you could bake! My goodness Kazuichi, this is some marvelous work!”

It took everything within him not to claim the cake as his own for the sake of receiving more praise from Sonia, but he decided against it ultimately (and not just because he thought Miu would surely call him out on being a miserable chef, let alone baker), “Nah, you got it all wrong Sonia, I didn’t make it I just bought it for you.”

Her smile softened but didn’t waver, “Ah, I see. Well, the thought is still there and therefore my praise is all the same. However, I cannot possibly hope to eat this entire thing on my own! Just one moment, I will serve us.”

Sonia disappeared into the little kitchen and reappeared in no time with three individual slices of cake and tea for everyone. Not even in her own apartment, and yet Sonia was the perfect host. Souda asked the girls what they had been up to for the weekend and was privileged with stories about horrific things they found in the refrigerator and the seemingly endless number of dishes (28 of them, to be precise) Miu was hoarding in her room—which took about three hours to clean. Souda feigned shock at these figures but knew that his own room would yield similar results if undertaken by Sonia and her ravenous hunger for organization and tidiness. 

Miu was truly thankful for all of Sonia’s help, even though she had trouble expressing it. She hadn’t made many girl-friends in her life, let alone girls who were genuinely kind and wanted the best for her. Sure she had Souda, but he was a mess on his own and it was nice to have someone sturdy to lean on after such devastation. Miu already wasn’t good with disappointment, but this failure had caused her to truly grieve as though she had lost someone real—as if Kiibo were real before the seance. She was thankful that Sonia came around to snap her out of her funk because Sonia knew just how much this failure had affected her. The only other person know could know was Souda. and here he was. Her heart felt full. 

Souda spent a few hours at the apartment before noticing the sun’s setting, “Well, I’d better get goin’, got a coupla things I need to turn in at the beginning of this month that I should work on before tomorrow.”

Sonia nodded, “I, too, should take my leave. Miu, it has been a pleasure. Please call me if you need anything.”

They all stood and Miu walked them to the door. She exchanged quick hugs and ‘thank-you’s with the two of them before they walked down together. As it happened, Sonia and Souda were parked only a few spaces from one another and he was able to nonchalantly walk her to her car. As she went to say goodbye, Souda spoke up.

“So, I was wondering if uh— if you might wanna go to like, the art museum with me, ‘er something? Like next Friday?” he asked nervously. 

Sonia thought about her schedule for a moment before nodded, “Okay, that sounds like fun! What time did you have in mind?”

Souda was surprised at her agreement, “I can pick you up at six, and we can get dinner after?”

She smiled, “That sounds wonderful! I will text you my address.”

Souda smiled his razor-sharp smile at her, “Okay!” He began to walk to his car, “I’ll see you Friday!”

“Indeed!” she called to him.

Souda got into his car and let out an excited squeal before turning the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot of Miu’s apartment building.

—

The week came and went, and when Friday came, Souda pulled in front of Sonia’s apartment at a crisp 5:55 when he called her and let her know that he was there. He figured that when she said ‘We are on our way down now,’ it was a slip of the tongue. But now she and Gundam were striding toward his car and his stomach turned. He unlocked the front and back doors, allowing for both of them to get in. He tried his hardest to play it cool as Sonia slid into the front seat at the same time that Gundam got into the back.

“Sonia!” he greeted, leaning over the console to give her a hug. He turned to the back, looking at the stoic goth that sat there, “A-And Gundam! I didn’t realize you were coming with.”

Gundam pulled his scarf over his nose and looked out the window, Sonia stammered, “I-I am sorry! How silly of me. I did not realize that I should—It is just that, Gundam has also never been to the museum and I thought I should—”

Souda felt altogether mortified, not just because Sonia had totally misinterpreted his advances and invited her friend, but also because Sonia was scrambling to make excuses for Gundam’s presence while he looked out of the window, clearly embarrassed.

“N-No, it’s okay! The more the merrier, y’know?” he said quickly.

Souda smiled at him, relieved. Gundam practically buried his face into his scarf, feeling flustered at Souda’s gallantry for still bringing him along even though he clearly wasn’t expected to be coming along. They mostly just listened to the radio on the way to the museum and arrived there in about 20 minutes; parking was surprisingly easy to find. He decided to park in the middle of everything so that they could walk around after exploring the museum. 

Souda purchased all three of their tickets into the building, even springing for a planetarium show at 7:30. Souda couldn’t necessarily afford three tickets for all of these things, but he had already planned to pay for Sonia and didn’t want to leave Gundam to try and figure it out on his own; it didn’t feel like the polite thing to do. Gundam knew Souda hadn’t necessarily planned for this and wanted so badly to tell him to put away his wallet, but he knew that instances like those were often inconvenient and weird; as to insist Souda didn’t pay while also not being able to pay for himself would result only in two options: either Sonia paying for him and rendering Souda’s efforts pointless, or him leaving and making things awkward for everyone. He thanked him quietly and noted to himself to slip Souda the next ¥4000 he made. 

They decided to start down the path of the Renaissance painters, which led to the planetarium at the very end. As they walked along the marble floors, Sonia stopped to say something about just about every painting they passed. The Renaissance period was one of her all-time favorites and Souda would have found her musings infinitely more interesting if he was not so focused on not making her uncomfortable by displaying his displeasure with Gundam’s being there; with Gundam’s icy stare boring through his back at all time. It wasn’t Gundam specifically that made him irritated, it was what he represented: the fact that Sonia saw Souda on the same playing field as Gundam. So he just walked nearby her and nodded as she told him about what the contrasts of light and dark meant within a certain piece.

Gundam, on the other hand, walked slightly behind the two of them, observing Souda. He was quite shorter the Gundam, somewhere around Sonia’s height. Gundam looked at his pink hair, recalled his pink eyes, and remembered a time when he and Sonia would speculate over whether or not he was dying his hair and wearing contacts. They found out in their 12th year, along with the rest of their class, that Kazuichi did indeed wear contacts, however, these contacts were for vision only and did not affect the color of his eyes. Everyone learned this when he came into school humiliated for a week while he was between prescriptions and was forced to wear his glasses. Gundam recalled the feeling in his stomach when he found out that Souda’s rose-colored features were all natural. How striking he suddenly became to Gundam in an instant; he had forgotten about that feeling until just now as he looked him over. It was then that the two of them turned to look at him and he realized that he hadn’t been paying any attention to what Sonia was saying.

“Don’t you agree, Gundam?” she asked pleasantly. Souda looked at him expectantly but with slight irritation. 

Gundam took a few steps forward to get a better look at the painting, “My apologies, She-Cat, I was not paying attention. My mind was rapt with blushing visions; these fabricated pleasantries coiled around my mind with a cobra’s vice grip and rendered me deaf to your observations. If you would be so kind as to repeat your incantations, I would be grateful.”

“It is okay, Gundam, I was just saying that—though this a modern painting and not done by a classical Renaissance painter—I think it still exhibits the same techniques and aspects that are essential to the movement and wanted to know if you agree!” she chirped.

Gundam addressed the painting again. It was a bust of a nearly-orange-haired blonde woman sitting elegantly while looking down and away from the viewer. She was adorned in elegant dressings with a pearl necklace, opal diadem, and golden rings on her pale fingers that held a mirror—the thing she seemed to be looking down and into. She looked ultra-realistic, glowing brightly against the black background she was against. He looked at the plaque next to it which read: Vanity, 1907. Frank Cadogan Cowper. Gundam turned to Sonia to discuss with her further the intricacies of the painting, but Souda felt too stupid to keep up. So as Gundam inspected the painting, he inspected Gundam.

Souda looked the way he set his sharp jaw when he was listening or paying close attention. He noticed how Gundam had not only the scar over his grey eye, but he had tiny, faded ones sporadically featured on his neck, chin, and even cheekbone. They looked like little animal scratches. Souda figured they were payback from his hamsters for keeping them stored in his scarf. He had always thought Gundam looked too adult in high school; like a narc sent to bust them. But he grew into his sharp features quite well, and Souda had to admit that Gundam was, altogether, a handsome guy—but not in a gay way or anything. He felt his face heat from the mere implication. 

Their museum trip went by quickly, the obviousness that Sonia and Gundam enjoyed themselves far more than Souda was apparent, so Sonia insisted upon paying for dinner. She was a well-off young lady, as her mother was a high-ranking judge in her homeland and her father was a professor and the country’s highest-ranking college. She was a prized member of high society back in Novoselic, which was one of the reasons why she loved her new life in Japan so much. The other kids thought she was silly for begging to take Japanese lessons alongside the formal learnings of three romance languages along with the parliamentary procedure that all elementary-aged students were required to learn before they tested out of year 6, but she excelled and obtained the life she was looking for. 

Another thing that made Sonia glad to live in Japan was the food. Just about anything prepared east of Europe was infinitely more flavorful than what she could find there. She ranted passionately about the subject on their walk back to Souda’s car.

“They simply do not make enough use of seasoning and sauces! In fact, I think the only decent things out there are the pastries, but Japanese bakers have attention to aesthetic that triumphs even the most delicious profiterole!” she declared passionately as she walked down the sidewalk next to Souda, Gundam behind them. 

Souda had his hands in his jean pockets, “Well, sure that might be true ‘n all but I think you’re forgetting something.”

“What is that?”

“Pizza.”

Sonia hummed and took her chin betwixt her thumb and pointer finger, leaning her lips on the curvature of her finger as she considered his position. She had, indeed, forgotten about pizza. Sonia had been to Italy, she knew what good pizza tasted like, and boy was it _good_. She nodded.

“I amend my statement! The best foods in Europe are pastries and pizza.”

Souda and Sonia both laughed, but Gundam was distracted again. Not by Souda, but by a stray cat he saw sitting on the edge of the sidewalk up a-ways across the street from them. He watched intensely as the cat stretched hard before starting off to wander across the street, which usually wasn’t a very busy one but currently had a motorbike going in one direction toward the cat and a car going the other. Gundam felt adrenaline spike his blood alongside his fear and before he could even stop to consider what he was doing, he ran into the street. Sonia noticed first and gasped; Souda yelled out of panic. Gundam met the cat in the middle of the street and snatched it up just as the bike nimbly and narrowly avoided them. Gundam turned to the car and stuck his hand out at it, almost as if he had a force within him that could will the vehicle to stop. Luckily, the driver in the vehicle had enough time to react and slammed on their brakes in just enough time to skid to a halt less than a half-meter away from Gundam and the cat. Gundam smirked and turned on his heel back to Sonia and Souda. 

Sonia clapped and bounced on her toes as Gundam approached, congratulating him on his bravery. Souda was still trying to ward off the heartattack that he was sure Gundam’s display of carelessness was going to give him. He did, however, find Gundam’s intense affection for animals kind of charming though. He gave Gundam a weak smile; Gundam made a sort of awkward half-smile back before covering his mouth and nose with his scarf and speed-walking to Souda’s car.

Sonia chuckled at his bashful display, “Well, looks like _someone_ likes to play the hero more than he likes being treated like one.”

Souda didn’t say it, but he had a feeling somewhere deep down that this wasn’t exactly the case. Perhaps he wasn’t just seeing things when he spotted the trace of blush beneath Gundam’s scarf. Perhaps. But probably not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys, thank you so much for reading so far!! chapters are gonna start getting longer from here on out, so waits between them are gonna be a little longer too. the painting mentioned in this chapter is called Vanity by Frank Cadogan Cowper. it’s super pretty, go look it up!


	5. Warm Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cannot believe this chapter is nearly 5000 words,,,,, we’re in this one for the long haul y’all! also shout out to secretly_a_savior bc i got the text message format idea from them

If he were being completely honest, Souda would say that he honestly never expected Sonia to message him again after their misunderstanding that was a “date,” but, alas, there her message was on his screen at the end of the first week of February. He giddily flashed the message at Miu as he received it, whom was not at all impressed. In fact, she grabbed his wrist and shoved his hand back down.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” she snapped.

Souda flinched his hand back, “Ah! Hey, don’t just go hittin’ me! Didn’t ya’ see? Miss Sonia texted me! She wants me ta’ come over on _Valentine’s Day_ weekend to watch a movie marathon with her!”

“Yeah, watch it with her and Gun- _dumb_ I noticed,” she murmured before bristling, “But, hey, that’s not what matters right now; I was right in the middle of showing you what that computer geek Chihiro put together for Kiibo!”

It was true, Souda did interrupt her right as she was in the middle of inserting the memory drive into the port in Kiibo’s chest just to show her the text message. Miu slapped the phone out of his hand and he was forcibly snapped back into attention. She carefully pushed the drive the rest of the way into its slot and stepped back to stand next to Souda. Slowly, they watched as Kiibo’s eyes lit up yellow, signifying by Chihiro Fujisaki’s manual that this meant he was in the middle of exporting the information on the drive and that he should not be disconnected from his power source while this was happening. 

Fujisaki made a special program for Kiibo that was similar to their computer’s virtual-assistant-slash-security-system that they affectionately called “Alter Ego.” The thing that differentiated Kiibo, however, was the fact that his personality was entirely emulated off of impressions of Kiibo’s character given to Fujisaki by Souda and Miu; whereas Alter Ego was emulated entirely off of Fujisaki and their own personality. It was a challenge welcome by Fujisaki, who had finished the project for them in a surprisingly timely manner while they tweaked Kiibo’s power sources and strength parameters. 

Nothing more developed with Kiibo over the next four hours that they spent at the garage before they realized that Kiibo would need an ethernet cable connected directly to a router to complete his system download. They hooked him up and left him to sync overnight; he wouldn’t wake up without them there, as there were a few more calibration steps that needed taking care of before Kiibo could become a functioning, responding A.I. 

When Souda got home, he showed the text message to Hinata, beaming similarly at him as he was to Miu. Hinata paused his game, looked at the message, and raised his eyebrow.

“So, she wants to watch a movie marathon with you and Gundam for Valentine’s?” he asked slowly, trying to read in Souda’s face why he was so excited by this invitation, “Congratulations?”

Naegi leaned partially over Hajime to read the text before smiling at Souda, “Y’know what? I think it’s nice that you’re excited! You never know what could happen.”

Souda laughed triumphantly, “A-ha! Thank you, Makoto!”

Hinata stared at Naegi as he sat back in his spot next to him on the couch and picked up his controller again, “You think Sonia really meant something romantic by that?”

“What, _that_?” Naegi snorted, resuming the racing game once more and forcing Hinata back to its attention, “No, no, of course not, but I _do_ think it’s nice that he still has hope. Gotta have hope for something, right?”

Hinata just shrugged and nodded, and Souda considered for a moment how blindly agreeing with Naegi might be a reoccurring trend with the two of them and he couldn’t imagine how that made for any decent debating with the both of them on the same team. Perhaps it was usually up to Kirigiri to formulate round arguments. Souda glared reproachfully at the two of them before stalking off, muttering under his breath about how his ‘chances with Sonia we’re totally possible’ and that they were ‘just assholes with the same haircut.’

—

Valentine’s Day arrived on Friday, and Souda had hardly slept the night before. He was getting ready in the morning, brushing his teeth and changing into a new pair of gauges he just purchased (he was up to a size zero and they had little sharks on them!) when he received a text from Sonia that read:

[From: Miss Sonia♕: Hello Kazuichi! I am excited for you to come and chill out! I regretfully forgot to remind you that you should bring an overnight bag with you, as all 6 movies add up to about 13 hours! We will be starting the movie at about 2 this afternoon when Gundam gets off of work. I will catch you later! (✧ᴗ✧✿)]

After changing Hinata’s oil just to kill time from having woken up so early, he showered freshly, changed his clothes, and drove to her place with the contents of her message swimming gaily in his brain. She was excited to see him and even better, she wanted him to stay the night. He had no ill-intent of course, but the fact that she was willing to have him in her home overnight was incredibly flattering. He arrived at Sonia’s apartment building about ten minutes before two. As he locked up the car, he uselessly tried to straighten his ringer t-shirt and jeans to look more presentable somehow. He slung his bag over his shoulder and took the steps up to her apartment two at a time. When he knocked on the door, a tan girl with a chestnut ponytail and piercing blue eyes opened the door. She wore a spaghetti-strapped red sundress and looked up at Souda with a little smile on her face. Before Souda could nervously ask her if he had the wrong apartment, the girl spoke.

“You must be Kazuichi Souda! I’m Sonia’s roommate, Aoi Asahina!” she greeted cheerily, “It’s really nice to meet you, please come in!”

Asahina moved to the side and held the door open so he could enter. Souda blushed a little bit and thanked her. He took off his shoes by the door before venturing further inside. He could hear the low rumble of Gundam’s voice and Sonia’s laughter. He followed the sounds into the house to see the cleanest, most organized space he had ever seen. Immediately to the right of the short hallway that lead from the front door was a dining room, and he saw that behind the wall of the hallway was the kitchen where Sonia and Gundam were talking. Beyond the dining room was the living room, which contained carpeting, cabinets, and tables all of a bright white that would have given Souda an unsteadily sterile feeling if the blankness of the furniture wasn’t juxtaposed by the two tan couches and the green plants that were seemed to be placed all over the house, one of them even hanging from a corner of the ceiling in the living room which stretched ivy all along the upper seam of the wall. Souda felt quite like the grubbiest thing in there. The only thing that stuck out more than he felt like he did was the little cage on the table that contained four hamsters. He figured Gundam must have brought them along.

“Kazuichi! Welcome,” said Sonia as she came out from the kitchen and into the dining room where he was standing. 

Sonia was wearing a baby pink sundress that matched the style of Asahina’s. Gundam watched as she approached and hugged him, he was wearing a very long black cardigan over a black shirt and black ripped pants. Souda noticed he wasn’t wearing his scarf. He had barely snapped out of looking at Gundam so he could reciprocate her hug when she let him go.

“I am so glad you are here and that you got to meet Aoi before she leaves for her date.”

Asahina bounced excitedly, “Yup! Sakura should be here any second now. In the meantime, we should show him around!”

Souda couldn’t imagine for a moment that there was ever an unwholesome moment in this house, it just seemed out of either girl’s nature. They walked him around the two-bedroom apartment, showing him their balcony which stored their bikes and contained a quaint little table with two seats that were placed next to the window planter of flowers. Across from the dining room was another small hallway which featured three doors—two on either side and one in the middle. Asahina’s room was on the left and plastered on the walls were the many medals she’d received for swimming, he could see trophies shoved tightly onto shelves however they could fit. Her decor—from her curtains to her bedspread—was otherwise donut-themed, strangely enough. It was Sonia’s room that threw him for a total loop. 

She had a huge Victorian-style queen-sized bed which featured a dark scarlet canopy that draped over her black bedspread. The shelves were stacked with books of all different ages and sizes, the walls were covered in gothic art and, more aligned with her character (according to Souda), photos of her friends and family. His eyes drifted to one corner of the room where a small table was cluttered with dozens of long candles, stones, feathers, and trinkets all framing a very old-looking picture of some kind of eldritch god. Souda tensed at that, and Gundam clearing his throat unexpectedly behind him made him yelp.

They moved on to the center door that revealed an impeccably cleaned bathroom which had carpets and shower curtains that were, like most of the other furniture, white. Souda was particularly jealous of their double sinks. Just as they wrapped up the tour, there was a gentle rap on the door before the raspy, deep voice of a woman came from the little hallway.

“Knock-knock. Aoi? You ready?”

Asahina squealed and trotted out of the bathroom as the other three followed. Sakura Oogami was a tall, tanned, and extremely muscular woman with long white hair that fell down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a pair of khaki pants, white sandals, and a floral blouse with baggy, swooping sleeves. She was carrying a bouquet of roses. Asahina rushed over and hugged her tightly, the top of her head barely cresting Oogami’s collarbone. They kissed quickly before Asahina turned around.

“Sakura, this is Sonia’s friend Kazuichi Souda,” Asahina said, caressing her muscular forearm with one hand and gesturing to Souda with the hand now holding the bouquet.

Sakura stepped easily out of her sandals and walked over to Souda, shaking his hand.

“Pleasure to meet you,” she said brightly.

Souda’s hand was properly crushed by her grip. 

“Y-Yeah, you too,” he croaked.

Asahina suddenly gasped, “Sonia! We haven’t taken a picture of our dresses! Everyone go to the living room, we’re gonna take a picture together.”

Souda went pink as Sonia guided him over to the large floor mirror that stood next to the TV in the living room. Asahina and Sonia took the foreground of the photo, arms around each other’s waists and posing cutely with each other. Oogami, who stood just behind the girls with the boys out her arms around either of their necks, pulled them both closer to her sides so they could all fit in the frame. Asahina held the phone in her hand.

“Everyone ready? Okay, just look at the lens’ reflection in the mirror. Non-dairy cheeeeeese!”

Souda and Gundam tried to get the phrase out, but the words were supremely restricted by the large arms around their necks. Asahina snapped the picture and Oogami let the boys go to inspect the her work. Asahina was satisfied and said goodbye to the three of them, wishing them a good evening before strapping on her white platform heels and making off for the town with Oogami. Sonia turned around to the boys and clapped her hands together.

“Ready?” she asked.

Gundam chuckled, “Hm, yes it does indeed appear that you have much to learn, Empress of Nightshade, to imply that I, Gundam Tanaka, am somehow unprepared to indulge in the depraved, lubricious nature of the Haunted Hollow saga at any time of any day. This would be as to imply that the wolf is somehow not prepared to howl when the moon is finally at its fullest.”

The only recognizable phrase in that mess that was Gundam’s words stuck out to Souda, “We’re watchin’ _Haunted Hollow_? Like, horny-vampire-movies-for-goths _Haunted Hollow_?”

Sonia plopped down on the couch to get the movie started but Gundam remained standing, sizing Souda up like he was an enemy.

“Fool,” he said lowly, “you know not of what you speak, for due entirely to your impudent ignorance, you have let a grave oversight occur. First and foremost, _Haunted Hollow_ began as a book series, which was turned into a manga, and _then_ made into a series of films; to minimize their legacy into mere celluloid is pathetic. Secondly, it is not only about vampires—a creature which you might take care to speak the name of less petulantly, being a mortal—it is about _four_ vampires who are tasked to roam the world in search of undercover paranormal creatures, off _all different types_ mind you,” he began to count them off on his ringed fingers, “were-people, warlocks, centaurs, sylphs, nymphs, and… other vampires.”

Souda shrugged and sat next to Sonia on the couch, putting his hands behind his head, “Yeah, sure, more than vampires ‘er whatever but, if I remember right, isn’t there like, _always_ a biggol orgy scene in each of these?”

Gundam went pink and grabbed the edge of his long cardigan, dragging it to cover his coloring skin.

“Not… _always_ ,” he muttered from behind it before sitting on the other side of Sonia.

She selected the first film of six on the DVR and fast-forwarded through some prerequisite commercials, “Gundam and I love this series, not just for the blood orgies, but because they were an integral part of our childhoods, as well as some of the childhoods of other people like us.”

Souda snorted, “Yeah? Is _Haunted Hollow_ like the young goth’s bible or something?”

Sonia laughed and played the movie, not caring if she missed bits of the beginning monologue because she had heard it so many times.

“Well sure, but the dynamics between certain characters contributed to many gay people’s sexual awakenings. Though I’ve always stood firm by the opinion that the film’s treatment of Rosaria and Millicent’s relationship to be extremely watered-down in comparison to the books,” Sonia said with a slight edge of irritation to her voice, earning a solemn nod from Gundam.

Souda blinked at the TV for a moment, feeling like Sonia had just said something incredibly important that he hadn’t understood. 

“Why would gay people’s sexual who-za-wotz-it be important to you?” Souda asked Sonia without any harmful meaning in his voice, looking directly at her now.

Sonia looked back at him, surprised. Gundam leaned forward to look equally as shocked at Souda as well.

“Kazuichi,” she said, looking back at Gundam, then to Souda again, “We are both gay.”

Souda just blinked at her. Suddenly, the hints she had dropped surrounding this subject became clear to him and he felt his stomach sink to his feet. He wondered if it had been obvious to everyone but him, and further wondered if they just neglected to tell him because they thought he knew, or if they thought the news would be too hard for him to take. Sonia could be gay though! She could be gay all she wanted—all she _was_ —Souda knew it wasn’t like, a choice or anything! Now she was staring disconcertingly at him and his mouth went dry. He had to think of something to say quickly before the two of them mistook him for some kind of a prejudiced asshole and kicked him out.

“Oh, pssh, ha! I knew that,” he forced, “I could totally tell!”

Sonia just knitted her brows together. That, evidently, was not the right thing to say. Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he sprang to his feet and both Gundam and Sonia stared at him with wide eyes. 

“I’m just,” he spotted the balcony, “gonna go smoke a cigarette! Do you mind, Sonia?”

Her jaw worked, lost for words, “Sure, I—”

“Awesome, thanks!”

With that, he rushed outside of the sliding glass door and shut it behind him. He leaned on the railing and procured with nervously shaking hands his pack of cigarettes and his lighter️. Inside, Gundam and Sonia turned their surprised looks to each other.

“What do you think that was about?” Sonia asked Gundam.

Gundam looked out the door at Souda’s frame, “Perhaps he has been stricken with humors which have emerged from such a sudden revelation.”

Sonia looked pitifully out at Souda as well, “I did not think he _actually_ had feelings for me, even after all of these years.”

Gundam turned his gaze back to Sonia to give her a questioning look.

“Miu told me how much Kazuichi likes me a few weeks ago when we were cleaning up her apartment, but I neglected to take her seriously due to lack of um, _questionable behavior_ that he tends to display when taken up with someone,” they watched him tap ash off of his cigarette, Sonia sighed, “But it seems like Miu was right.”

Seeing how this seemed to make her disapponted and Gundam wasn’t the best at dealing with those things, so he stood up to grab a hamster for her to pet, as that was what he usually did for his sisters to make them feel better. Outside, the nicotine—though taking its slow toll on his lungs— helped immensely to still his spinning brain, and the time spent alone gave him room to process everything. He still had feelings for Sonia, though the fuel for that fire was already steadily tapering out; a few minutes away from the shock of the news had removed its novelty and all that was left to do now was get over her. This wasn’t the thing now perturbing him, however, for Sonia had said: “we” which meant that Gundam was gay too and that new piece of information made his heart beat faster for reasons that he didn’t want to think too hard about. It was the same quickening that occurred when Gundam’s tired, heterochromatic eyes looked at him from beneath his dark lashes, or when Sonia got him to let out a genuine laugh instead of the deep, condescending chuckle that he usually gave. Souda pushed these thoughts from his mind as he ashed the cigarette on the metal railing and flicked it away. 

He came back inside to see Gundam and Sonia now watching the movie, each of them petting a hamster. There was a bottle of wine on the table.

Sonia smoked brightly up at him, feeling much better, “Kazuichi, could you retrieve us a few wine glasses from the cupboard?”

Feeling strangely like a butler who had just been given orders, he walked into the kitchen and opened the first cabinets he saw, which was obviously their food cupboard. However, Souda noticed something curious about the food.

“Why’s all your food in jars and cloth bags and stuff?” he asked, moving on to another cabinet to try for the wine glasses again. 

Souda found the glasses and grabbed the corkscrew from its place next to the stove before walking back into the living room. Sonia placed the grey-spotted hamster into Gundam’s lap as she thanked Souda. She grabbed the corkscrew and began to turn the sharp end into the cork as she spoke.

“Aoi is someone who takes the welfare of our planet very seriously. You see, she is already an athlete and ate a completely vegetarian diet from a young age, but when she started looking more into the value of being vegan a few years ago, she found that is was actually a very eco-friendly way to live and also learned about waste-free living; so we don’t buy anything that is packaged and get everything from specialty bulk stores!” Sonia explained, popping the cork out as she finished. 

Souda looked wary, “That sounds like a lotta effort just to not be able to eat bacon.”

Sonia giggled at this, but Gundam fixed him with a reproving glare as he said this. _He must be a vegan too_ , figured Souda, and before he knew it he was scrambling to amend his statement.

“B-But more power to you guys,” he said, taking the glass of dark red wine which Sonia was handing to him, “I don’t have the willpower for stuff like that.”

Gundam’s expression softened just the slightest bit and he relaxed back into the couch while taking a sip of his wine. They quietly watched the movie, with Sonia pausing every now and again to explain things that were left out from the movies that were in the books. None of them were too enthused about the first one, which Sonia had explained that they had watched only as a courtesy for future plot set up. By midnight, the hamsters were snoozing with their brothers in their cage and the three of them had already made their ways through two bottles of wine. Souda’s attention was rapturous, much to his own surprise as he wasn’t interested in these films at all when they first premiered. They were in the middle of the fifth film now, and Souda knew exactly what they meant when they said that the movies had gay undertones. Even though the four vampires were paired off into two straight couples, the male and female members of either relationship were best friends with the male and female from the other, respectively, and in these “platonic” relationships was where much of the romantic tension lied. Souda could tell it wasn’t exactly intended to be that way, but it was certainly the way it came across. For example, this film featured a particular plot point wherein one of the vampires—Leonardo—was being manipulated by evil nymphs to do their evil bidding. The mind control could only be broken by a “gesture of pure affection,” which was made complicated by the fact that most his comrades were angry with him for things he had said under the possession of the nymphs. The conflict was solved when Millicent, the member of the team with which he had the least chemistry but the only non-coupled member left, kissed him. At the end of this scene, Sonia paused the film again and Souda had expected her to speak but was surprised when Gundam did instead.

“This,” he said with the slightest slur, gesturing to the TV with his wine glass, “is the most insulting affront against source material as has ever been perpetrated. I shudder to imagine what great beasts of hell were responsible for such egregious oversight. For you see, Tamer of Automatons, in the original texts it was _Mercutio_ who bestowed upon Leonardo the affections called for by the prophecy.”

“Wait, yer tellin’ me that Blondie macks on Edgelord in the books?”

“Not exactly,” Sonia interjected, “In the book, Mercutio gives Leonardo his ring—

“The one he took from his mom’s lockbox after the funeral, right?” Souda clarified.

“Exactly, and the screenwriters changed it to Millicent in order to make the series more ‘lucrative,’ as they put it,” Sonia said, putting air-quotes around the word “lucrative.” 

“A feeble excuse,” rumbled Gundam as he leaned over to the table and refreshed his glass (Souda couldn’t help noticing how elegant his hands looked holding a wine glass by the stem), “An unworthy adaptation. The two of them were practically betrothed, but all of the subtlety and nuance of their relationship: sapped for financial successes!”

Souda nodded, watching Sonia flit through the DVR to select the final movie, “Yeah, I can see that. I mean, that what I would mean if I gave someone my ma’s ring.”

The flutter in Gundam’s stomach caught him off guard. He had always had a bad habit of forgetting other people had lives and feelings and mothers that they too adored. But the idea that Souda—someone he had only recently started to view as tolerable rather than obnoxious—had a mother who had a ring that he might like to give to someone he loved one day dug up something romantic within Gundam that he hadn’t felt in a very, very long time. Feeling foolish, he blamed it on the wine and worked on the glass he had just poured. 

The last movie, while easily the most satisfying plot-wise, was also the longest and by the time that all of the loose ends had been properly tied up the three of them were struggling to keep their eyes open. 

“Yaaaaay,” Souda cheered weakly with a half-hearted pump of his fist as the credits rolled.

Sonia laughed breathily, which turned into a yawn. She stood up and gathered their three glasses to put in the kitchen with the accumulated bottles. She instructed Souda and Gundam to get changed into their night clothes and get ready for bed while she got them some blankets and pillows. Souda changed in the bathroom, while Gundam used Sonia’s bedroom. As he shoved his other clothes back into his bag and grabbed his toothbrush from it, he heard a knock at the door. He padded over to it and opened it to see Gundam, who had taken his earrings out and was now wearing not much more than a tight black wife-beater tank top, which immediately captured Souda’s attention due to the surprising amount of muscle mass Gundam had now revealed to be hiding beneath all of those long coats and dark clothes. He tried not to think of what it might imply about him that he first noticed the way Gundam’s pecs looked in his shirt before he noticed that the joggers he was wearing were totally covered in little Hamtaro illustrations with different expressions. Souda couldn’t help but smirk at that detail and looked at Gundam. 

Gundam’s cheeks went a little pink and with nothing to conceal it, he resigned to looking off to the side as he spoke to Souda, “Sonia granted these upon me as a gift.”

“Ah, well, they’re very _cute_ , Gundam,” Souda snickered.

Gundam’s face flushed darker and, still looking away, he murmured from the side of his mouth, “I was just meaning to…”

At that, Souda’s eyes landed on the toothbrush and toothpaste in Gundam’s hand and suddenly felt stupid for making him wait. He pushed open the door a little more and walked to the farther sink with a nervous laugh. Gundam offered Souda to use some of his toothpaste, and Souda took some, finding the way that Gundam put the toothpaste on the brush himself while Souda held it out to him to be quite endearing. He looked down into the sink as he brushed his teeth, feeling like Gundam was looking at him the whole time.

Gundam was indeed looking at him, just not the entire time. As he brushed, he stole glances at Souda’s swaying pink ponytail, his loose basketball jersey that sagged to reveal his bare chest when he leaned down, and especially at his unnaturally sharp teeth, which had intrigued Gundam for years. He surveyed them closely after Souda spat and bared his teeth at himself in the mirror so he could check around. Gundam couldn’t see how they could be anything but sharpened. He spat too.

“Did you acquire your fangs through an artificial means?” he asked.

Souda looked at him through the mirror, “What, my teeth? Nah man, they’re just like this; doctors told my ma she couldn’t nurse me anymore when they started growin’ in. Dad always said he had a great uncle or somethin’ that I look a lot like I guess, but I dunno. And don’t just go sayin’ they’re fangs! I wouldn’t call ‘em that.”

But the statement had stirred something in him that strove to scrutinize this insecurity. Souda moved his mouth at the corners with his fingers and looked at his teeth carefully.

“They’re not fangs!” he said with initial conviction that soon withered, “Right?”

He looked desperately at Gundam through the mirror, who chuckled back at him.

“They are very _cute_ Kazuichi,” Gundam chuckled as he used Souda’s words against him, even though the casual phrasing of the statement sounded almost unnatural for him. 

But at this, Souda went quite red and didn’t say anything. Gundam’s smug look fell. He thought he had crossed some kind of line, but what he didn’t know was that he has just made Souda’s stomach twist in a way that he had only ever associated with Sonia’s presence. Thinking about what that might imply about him just made him want to get out of the room as quickly as possible. He scurried past Gundam—whose jaw was working as he tried to find something to say—and out of the bathroom. But in the little hallway, he bumped into Sonia, who was walking back to her bedroom. As he stepped back from her, he saw that she was wearing an extremely large band T-shirt that reached the top of her thighs. His face grew much hotter.

“Oh, sorry Kazuichi! I was just coming back here to let you both know that I fixed your beds on either couch,” she looked more closely at Souda, “Are you well, Kazuichi? Your face looks flushed; are you coming down with a fever?”

“N-No, no, I’m alright. I’m gonna go lay down now, though, G'night,” he said quickly, getting to the couch before she could even reply to him. 

Sonia gave Gundam a questioning look, which he just shrugged in response to as he shut off the light.

“Goodnight, She-Cat,” he said, walking to the couch Souda wasn’t lying on. 

“Goodnight,” Sonia replied, not fully convinced that Gundam’s little shrug was entirely truthful, given he still had a faint blush to compliment Souda’s. She smirked to herself and went to her room.

On his couch, as he heard the weight of Gundam settle into the other sofa behind him, Souda’s exhausted brain stayed defiantly awake, considering every meaning of Gundam’s usage of the word “cute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, thanks so much for taking the time to read this! we’re gonna get to some plot stuff next chapter that i’ve really been looking forward too and i’m so excited!!


	6. B.Y.O.B.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had sooo much fun writing this chapter! please let me know what you think <3

A blustering, wet February gave way to a March and April of the same tone. Students at Towa City College were usually able to go about their extracurriculars and larger projects without needing to worry about menial tasks such as daily homework. This did not negate the fact, however, that the end of a semester meant rounds of testing to assure one’s position in at the school for the next year. This filled the academic environment with a sort of quiet, buzzing stress that seemed to radiate from every overly-caffeinated student walking through the campus.

 

Because of this anxiety and Hinata’s strict study regimen, Souda had to take days off from honing Kiibo’s skills with Miu. The robot was growing more and more advanced each time they worked with him. Fujisaki had made sure to include some of the foundations of logic in Kiibo’s start-up hardware, for instance, he knew his numbers, colors, shapes, animals, elements, laws of thermodynamics, where babies came from, etcetera. This already having been done for them, Miu and Souda focused on fine-tuning his personality and abilities whenever Souda had the time to spare. Miu, brilliant as she was vulgar, wasn’t worried at all about her exams and wanted Souda back in the garage more frequently. She found it ridiculous that Souda couldn’t just “bend those fuckin’ tests over and go to town.”

 

The exams, as all things do, passed by. Souda passed by a thin margin, but relief and warmth flooded his body as he read the results posted outside of his most difficult class on the first of few and far-between sunny days of May. Having spent the last two months studying most of the time and tinkering with Miu when he was free, he hadn’t seen much of anyone else besides his roommate and his garage-mate. He turned away from the posted scores and began to make his way across campus down to the garage. As he walked, he took out his phone and began to scroll through Instagram when he scrolled to a picture posted by Sonia. It was of her and Gundam, both of them holding up blue examination books marked big red 100 on the front. Sonia was grinning toothily, Gundam had a slight smile that he had titled his chin below his scarf to try and obscure. Souda couldn’t help the smirk on his face as he noticed that attribute which was so telling of the goth’s true nature.

 

Sonia, kind as ever, was sure to text him at least once a week to let him know she was thinking of him and to wish him good luck on the exams. Souda’s feelings for her were fading more easily that he had apprehended due to the distraction that came with rigorous study, but he wasn’t sure there would ever come a time that he didn’t find Sonia Nevermind wholly beautiful. This didn’t mean that Souda’s feelings were suddenly uncomplicated, however, because Sonia wasn’t the part of this photo that made his heart race. In fact, his gaze wandered Gundam’s striking eyes, to the scar across one of them, to his sharp nose, across his smooth, clean skin to the plushness of his lips barely hidden by the sc—

 

Souda was knocked flat onto his ass and pain began to bloom from the center of his forehead. He clapped his hand to the spot and opened a pink eye to glare at his foe: a metal pole holding up an awning. He rubbed his forehead, blushing furiously as a couple of girls who were sitting on the fountain that he hadn’t even realized he was passing began to laugh. Souda scrambled to his feet, shoved his phone back into his pocket, and walked briskly the rest of the way to the garage.

 

When he finally arrived, he walked in to see Kiibo powered up and sitting on the slab like a patient at a doctor’s office. Miu was holding his arm moving his wrist, elbow, and shoulder in circular motions. Kiibo spotted Souda and waved his hand in a stiff greeting.

 

“Hello, Kazuichi Souda!” he said in a voice that was only slightly mechanical, an easy fix that Souda mentally noted.

 

Miu moved his knee back and forth, “Kiibo, say what we practiced!”

 

“Oh, right! Daddy, mommy said you were just leaving to buy cigarettes, what took you so long?” the robot asked with a convincing childish sadness to his voice.

 

Souda stammered, feeling suddenly guilty, “N-No! Kiibo, I was just— Hey!”

 

He snapped at Miu who was now doubled over with raucous laughter as she slapped Kiibo’s knee.

 

Souda frowned at her, “Don’t just go makin’ him say stuff like that! You’re gonna give ‘im abandonment issues!”

 

Miu’s laughter subsided to a chuckle as she wiped her eyes and walked over to her work station, “He’s a robot, you fuckin’ moron. Now put your shit down and help me grease his joints.”

 

Souda grumbled under his breath but did as she asked, setting his things on his work table and flicking on the light above it before moving over to Kiibo. He lifted the metal plating that met the seam of his knee so Miu could fit the nozzle of the oil can into the joint.

 

“How’d your test go?” Souda asked her conversationally, lifted the plating on the other knee as she moved to it.

 

“How d’you expect the girl genius of this century to do other than perfect?” she said matter-of-factly.

 

If anyone else were saying it, Souda would have found it unbearable arrogant and irritating, but he knew that Miu wasn’t exaggerating even a little. She really was a genius and he had no doubt in his mind that he executed her examinations flawlessly with minimal effort.

 

“I’m only stayin’ another semester ‘cuz the school wants me to enter Kiibo into some competitions under their institution,” she moved to Kiibo’s shoulders, “They’re allowin’ me to work in here full-time next semester, I don’t even have to take any regular classes. Besides, I figure it’s the least I can do since I pretty much built him here after operation hours.”

 

Souda felt a pang in his stomach, “ _We_ built him, Miu. Did… Did you take all of the credit for this?”

 

The question hung heavy in the air. Miu set the can down before looking at him with a strange expression. Souda felt unnerved by this, but disappointment and anger were steadily mounting in his the longer she didn’t answer.

 

“I didn’t, Souda,” she said with more sincerity than he had ever heard in her voice, and it seemed to surprise her too, “You’re gonna come too, they’re supposed to send you a letter soon.”

 

An apology faltered on her lips, but Souda got the gist and she moved on, returning to her normal self and oiling behind Kiibo’s neck, careful to avoid some of the important buttons that were back there.

 

“Besides, _I_ was the one who conceptualized him. _We_ may have done the dirty, but _he’s_ mostly my baby,” she said, wrapping her arms around Kiibo’s chest and hugging him from behind.

 

The robot smiled at the display of affection and nodded at Souda, who was cringing.

 

“Don’t phrase it like that, Miu!”

 

She laughed at him and let go of Kiibo to stand in front of him with Souda. They asked him to do a couple of stretches and a lap around the garage, both of them snickering as they heard a startled yell from the guy who usually worked on his motorcycle on the other end of the building, followed by Kiibo’s apology and his metallic footfalls growing nearer. When he came back, Miu had him sit back on the slab to “look pretty” while she worked on blueprints for weapon attachments. Souda decided to rework Kiibo’s charging dock into something sleeker and more portable so that they could take him out of the garage during the summer.

 

Miu walked over to the famed Kiibaby, placed her phone in his hands, and selected a hardcore playlist that she and Souda had been playing for the last couple of months. Kiibaby’s speakers blared and Souda nodded as he worked, the music making him feel buzzy and light on his feet. They worked without taking for about five songs until Miu spoke.

 

“What are you doin’ tomorrow night?” she asked.

 

Souda still worked as he spoke, “Hmm… nothing. Why?”

 

“‘Cuz this band is playing downtown, should kick ass.”

 

Souda looked up from the charging dock and stared absently into space as he actually listened to the song. The singer was a woman with a voice that could go from theatrical extremes to a shocking and violent scream; she was on this playlist a couple of times and was extremely recognizable because of the unique, brutal sound. It made Souda feel kind of freaked out, but in an approachable, cathartic way that he was into when it came to music.

 

“I didn’t know this was a local band,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

 

Miu nodded, “Yup, they’re called ‘Remnants of Despair.’ They got this whole scary schoolgirl thing going on, they totally fuckin’ rock.”

 

Souda hoped the schoolgirls wouldn’t be _too_ scary.

 

“You in?” she asked.

 

“Huh?” he was snapped out of his visions of bloody pleated skirts and sacrifices in a schoolyard, “Oh! Yeah, I’m down.”

 

“Good. Doors open at 8 o’ clock, cover charge is 700 yen. It’s at a bar, so bring extra for drinks.”

 

“Which bar?”

 

“Wauri.”

 

Souda gulped.

 

—

 

“No, your logic is flawed.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Makoto, you cannot make an argument for optimism by just saying it ‘feels good.’”

 

“Well, I think it feels good.”

 

“I know, right? Thank you, Hajime.”

 

Souda interrupted their conversation as he came in from slipping off his shoes by the doorway. All three of them looked at him from the table. Naegi and Hinata grinned at him while Kirigiri appraised him with a bored look.

 

“H-Hey guys, how’s it going?” feeling a little too focused upon.

 

“We’re doing good!” said Naegi, “Kyoko’s helping a lot to prepare for this weekend.”

 

Kirigiri sighed and knitted her gloved fingers, “We need all of the practice we can get.”

 

Hinata nodded, taking Kirigiri’s cue and looking grim, “Yeah, we’re facing Toko Fukawa and Byakuya Togami…”

 

Kirigiri rolled her eyes, “Don’t say their names like that, it makes you sound intimidated.”

 

“But I _am_ intimidated!” Hinata defended.

 

Kirigiri groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Souda waited a moment to see if she would say anything else and when he didn’t, he turned to Hinata.

 

“I passed my exam by the way, how’d you do?”

 

Hinata smiled at him, “That’s great, bro! I passed too, we should celebrate soon.”

 

Souda smiled back at his best friend. Their conversations had been mostly limited to academics for the last few months and the return to stasis was welcomed by him.

 

“You’re gonna be busy tomorrow though?”

 

Hinata nodded and gestured with his head to his two debate partners, “Yeah, we’re leaving tomorrow.”

 

Souda nodded and looked to the rest of them, “Well, good luck guys.”

 

“Thank you, Kazuichi!” chirped Naegi.

 

Kirigiri muttered her thanks and Souda walked back to his room. He pushed open the door with the _Jaws_ poster taped to the front. He had left his television on accidentally and the light from it cast a series of changing colors as his desktop (which he had connected to the TV) faded through his photo gallery. Souda watched a photo of himself and Hinata with their arms around Kuzuryuu on their graduation day fade into a picture of Kiibo’s motherboard before flicking the light on. He couldn’t hide the grimace that came across his face when the room came starkly into view.

 

The last several stressful weeks had caused him to neglect cleaning up after himself (or more accurately, caused Hinata to forget to remind him to clean his room); the result was days worth of dishes piled near his bed and on the desk. The floor was so thoroughly covered in his dirty/clean clothes—he couldn’t tell anymore, for the piles of each had merged—that the only bit of carpet visible was a circle which he had managed to clutter with small tools and spare parts for insignificant projects. Embarrassment flooded him as an image of Sonia’s pristine apartment entered his mind, which led to the associated memory of Gundam calling him cute.

 

Souda yelped aloud as though the memory had snuck up on him and immediately began to gather plates to clear his mind. He spent the following two hours cleaning his bedroom and gathering all of his clothes and sheets into one enormous pile that was sure to take about 4 loads. He divided the pile into a large cloth laundry bag, taking his sheets first down to the complex’s laundromat as he needed to get them started before the sun started setting.

 

Exhausted after running four loads of laundry to the ground floor, he snatched an egg timer from the kitchen before going into his now rather tidy room to grab his cigarettes. He walked out to the balcony, set the timer for thirty minutes, and sat down in one of the metal folding chairs he and Hinata kept by the little plastic table that supported their ashtray. As he took his first drag off of the cigarette, he procured his phone from his pocket and was equal parts shocked and pleased to see a message from Sonia that read:

 

[From: Miss Sonia♕: Helloooooo Kazuichi !! ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪  How did you do on your exams?]

 

Souda blushed because, well, old habits die hard. Plus, he had rarely received any sort of care or concern from much of anyone outside of Hinata or Kuzuryuu, and the gesture made him feel both glad and apprehensive.

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Hey sonia! I did ok just barely passed. What about u?]

 

He took another drag off of cigarette as he watched the grey bubbles that teased her response. He rubbed the bruise on his forehead absently as he remembered her’s and Gundam’s perfect scores.

 

[From: Miss Sonia♕: Full marks, thank goodness! (^◇^；) Gundam and I are going out to a show tomorrow to celebrate and wanted to know if you wanted to join us!]

 

Souda’s heart thumped significantly in his chest. It shouldn’t come as such a shock that Sonia was inviting him out, but the offer was deeply surprising all the same. Suddenly, the thought occurred to him:

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Would that happen to b the show that—

 

He grappled to recall the band name.

 

—remnants of despair is putting on downtown?]

 

Her reply came quickly.

 

[From: Miss Sonia♕: OMG! I did not know you already knew of Remnants! ＼(*T▽T*)／ Yes, that is the show I am referring to! I assume you are already planning to attend, then?]

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Ya, miu invited me to go]

 

He thought of it suddenly and sent the message as fast as his thumbs could type it:

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Do u and gundam want a ride?]

 

Souda’s heart hammered as he watched the grey bubbles appear, disappear, then reappear to stay for a while before her response came to him.

 

[From: Miss Sonia♕: That is so kind of you to offer !! Yes, we will gladly take up a ride with you.]

 

Souda sighed triumphantly.

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Cool pick u guys up at 7:30]

 

[From: Miss Sonia♕: We will see you then !! ₍‧ꀈ˙⁾՜]

 

Souda tucked his phone away and placed the cigarette between his lips once more, trying to keep the smile on his face and not follow the train of thought that occurred to him upon seeing Sonia’s emoticon choice. She and Gundam had definitely not turned themselves into vampires.

 

—

 

It had been quite a while since Souda had gone out to see some live music. The last time had been a ska-punk show, and while he wasn’t afraid to get rowdy, the mosh pits at shows like that weren’t so extreme as the one he was sure that hardcore bands like Remnants of Despair would conjure. He didn’t know if he was thrilled or terrified; possibly both.

 

He looked down to his phone on the counter of the sink and checked the time. 7:05. He looked back up to the mirror and give himself a quick glance over. Souda had pulled his dragonfruit hair up into a ponytail as a precautionary measure. He wore his new shark gauges in his ears and changed his tongue piercing into a black ball from his usual silver one. Souda had even gone so far as to dig in the back of his closet for a well-worn pair of heavily patched and tattered baggy jeans which he had cuffed over scuffed black combat boots. Wrapped around his hips was an old red flannel shirt and over his torso, he wore a loose black tank top with low-plunging armholes that revealed most of his ribs. Because of this, his tattoo of a large, simplistic gear on his right shoulder revealed itself. Old scars revealed themselves, too. He pondered them idly. After smearing on some deodorant, he flicked off the light and made to leave.

 

“Hajime, have you seen my cigarettes?” he asked after having pat his pockets to have felt all of the things he needed except for his cigarettes and lighter.

 

When no one replied, he remembered that Hinata had said goodbye nearly three hours ago after leaving with Naegi and Kirigiri. He laughed to himself a little sheepishly as he found his cigarettes on the kitchen counter where he usually put them. Before he walked out the front door, he shook his hands to get the jitters out.

 

—

 

The drive to Sonia’s didn’t take long and he got there about five minutes before he was set to. He didn’t text to let her know he was there until 7:30 on the dot. Souda looked up at her apartment as he saw the door opening. Sonia walked out and waved excitedly at him. She was wearing a short, pleated black shirt, thigh-high black socks with white two bands at the very top, and a black button-up sleeveless shirt which she had undone to the fourth button. Souda’s mouth was a little dry at that detail. Evidently, she was following the schoolgirl theme. Her ankle-high leather boots clunked contrastingly as she hurried over and hopped in the front seat. His face warmed a little as she reached over and hugged him.

 

“Hello, Kazuichi! You look very nice. Gundam will be down in just a moment, he is feeding his hamsters before he leaves.”

 

Souda wondered if he took them everywhere he went. A memory of turning around in math class to hand Gundam a worksheet and spotting him quickly stow a little ginger-colored hamster into his scarf suddenly came to mind. He had forgotten Gundam sat behind him. He ruminated on that quiet, eccentric boy with his long billowing cloaks and his random outbursts of righteous fury for a moment before his attention was brought to movement on the landing of Sonia’s porch.

 

Gundam Tanaka was not that boy anymore.

 

There he was now, waving goodbye at an unseen Asahina, ever-styled sunflower seed hair was untouched and fell in a loose wave over his right, red eye which accentuated the smudged black eyeshadow underneath both of them. Gundam had replaced his scarf with a thick, black pleather collar studded with sharp, silver spikes around the entire thing, save the loop of metal that was poised in the middle. He was wearing a mesh quarter-sleeve shirt that left nothing of his muscular torso to mystery, pale skin brightly contrasting against the black fishnet material. Souda thought he could see the glint of a nipple ring shine in the streetlight he was passing under, long legs wrapped tightly in ripped black pants that stopped just above the edge of his red platform shoes. Gundam was clipping on two spiked bracelets of the same material to either wrist. Souda’s heart was hammering in his chest, hands growing clammy.

 

“Holy fucking shit—” Souda wheezed, watching Gundam round the car to get into the seat behind Sonia.

 

Sonia smirked a little bit didn’t look at him. Souda blushed darkly and followed up the statement with haste as though his sentence was merely continuing.

 

“—am I excited for tonight! Ha-ha,” he finished with a nervous, forced laugh.

 

He watched as Gundam slid into the backseat. Now just being able to see the mask of his face, Souda noticed that Gundam had changed his singular dangly earring from a suspended golden ball to a reptilian claw clutching a scarlet ball hanging from a silver chain. As he shut the door, Gundam’s eyes met Souda’s and the latter quickly averted his eyes to his steering wheel. Quickly, he started the car and got on with getting them to the show.

 

Sonia didn’t live too far from the bar. On the way, she talked animatedly about how excited she was and how dreadfully long it had been since she had last gone out on the town. Probably since the time Souda took them to the museum.

 

“But Gundam is the one who introduced me to Remnants! Right, Gundam?” she said cheerily, turning around in her seat to look at her best friend.

 

Gundam chuckled and closed his eyes, the way he always did when he was about to begin on a long-winded tangent. For some reason, Souda did not feel the urge to groan as he usually did, but instead to laugh and perhaps hear him out.

 

“Indeed, it was I who, as in most endeavors, enticed you into bestowing upon your mind the hellish machinations of the Remnants of Despair! Admittedly, I initially found their rhythmic conjurings to be deeply unsettling and perhaps accursed, but it was, unsurprisingly, the judgment of my Four Dark Devas of Destruction who assisted me in seeing a new perspective.”

 

Souda was confused, “Your Five What’s of Who now?”

 

Gundam tsked and Sonia smiled almost apologetically.

 

“The _Four_ Dark Devas of Destruction are Gundam’s hamsters,” she explained, “Don’t you remember them from the seance?”

 

“Not merely _hamsters_ , She-Cat, they are the forces through which I am able to commune with the beasts of hell! Through their shadows, which can effortlessly transcend the veil from this world into the next, my Devas are able to receive direct orders from the Dark Forces and transmit them to me. Through them, all of my power is wielded and—

 

“Gundam!” Sonia interrupted suddenly as she noticed Souda’s grip on the wheel growing tighter and his face growing pale at the talk of hell and hamsters that may or may not be able to speak Demon.

 

Gundam looked at Souda too, cleared his throat, and spoke again a little quicker, “Well, as I was saying, the Devas enjoyed the music very much, which incensed me to listen to them more and I eventually grew a liking toward them.”

 

Souda has practically forgotten what they had been talking about before Gundam said something about music. It was right around then that they turned into the downtown area and saw people in hardcore school uniforms and conventional punk-wear walking in small groups down an alley. They found a parking space about two blocks away and began to walk together in the direction of the bar. Sonia walked in a little ways front of Souda and Gundam, probably looking around for an interesting wall to take a picture in front of. Souda kept his eyes trained diligently forward, trying to look casual and stave off the feeling of being watched by the tall, gorgeous man next to him. His blood went icy as that word came to his mind faster than he could correct it, and he had to resist the rude urge to walk faster than Gundam and catch up with Sonia.

 

She waited for them at the entrance of the alley, smiling pleasantly at people who seemed to know her. Sonia had always been quite popular: it was rare she went anywhere without someone saying hello. As the three of them rounded the corner, Souda saw a small line of punks, goths, and generally freaky people waiting to pay for entry. They joined the line and the excited/nervous feeling filled Souda like a balloon; he could float away on the high of it all.

 

The building was dark and rather full for such a small venue, though there was still room to maneuver around with relative ease. Souda took in the graffiti on the black walls, from its vulgarities to its protests and spotted, on the other side of the room, the bar. At the same moment, he noticed the posters of demons and dark metal bands plastered amongst the graffiti. He needed courage; he needed a drink.

 

Souda turned to Gundam and Sonia, “Do you guys wanna get a couple drinks before they start?”

 

They both nodded and followed after him. Sonia must have been feeling generous, as she purchased the three of them a highball each. The kanpai-ed and each took a long drink. Suddenly, Souda felt a firm pinch on his ass and he yelped, nearly jumping out of his skin. He turned around to see Miu, laughing hard at his reaction and holding a drink of her own in a fingerless-gloved hand.

 

She was wearing a light pink school girl’s outfit, heavy-duty goggles on her forehead, and a plastic necklace that looked like barbed wire wrapped a couple of times snugly around her neck. Her long, strawberry blonde hair seemed was down and seemed to billow all around her. She had put on a few studded leather harnesses; one fastened over the shirt of her outfit which pinned the light blue bow tie underneath a golden loop, one around her upper left arm, and two garters clasped around either thigh which held up her white socks from underneath her tall black combat boots. She stopped laughing as she looked at Sonia.

 

“Daaaaamn Sonia, where’ve you been hiding those _tits_?!” she gasped, rushing over to Sonia and stopping just short of grabbing them out of sheer admiration.

 

Sonia giggled abashedly, blushing, “You look nice too, Miu.”

 

Miu put her hand on her hip with self-satisfaction and looking Gundam over as well, “And _you_ . Man, Van Helsing, you clean up good. I didn’t realize you were _buff_ under all that black, let alone the nipple ring. Wonder what else you’ve got hiding…”

 

Gundam blushed hard and Souda thought he might have seen a flash of a bashful smirk on his face before he looked away. Feeling pleased with herself, she downed the rest of her drink and set it down a little too hard on the counter, earning a glare from the bartender. Miu leaned on Souda’s shoulder with her elbow, surveying him as she watched him down the rest of his drink.

 

“Not bad,” she shrugged, and Souda chuckled a little as he reveled in the momentary dizziness.

 

At the same time, he and Gundam leaned over to the counter of the bar to set down their empty glasses. Souda looked up at Gundam, and Gundam looked down at Souda with those intense, mismatched eyes. There was a feeling in Souda’s gut. A feeling that felt like a rope in his stomach had suddenly been grabbed hold by something inside of Gundam. It was beckoning him to get closer.

 

As this thought struck him through, the white lights above the stage shut off and there was an approving cheer from the crowd. Sonia downed her drink and took hold of Gundam’s hand as Miu grabbed Souda’s, both girls dragging them closer to the front.

 

In the darkness, four figures took their places behind their respective instruments. They stood in the dark for a few moments before the click of drumsticks going 1-2-3-4 sounded. Then, the sound came to life, soft at first. It was immediately recognizable to be a very popular song of theirs as started with a misleadingly slow and pleasant introduction. The stage lights suddenly burst on in flashing colors and the band members came into view.

 

All four of them were dressed in grungey schoolgirl uniforms. The lead singer looked the most like Souda had expected her to. She had incredibly long black hair that was streaked with white—save her bangs which were blue and pink like her tattered, mismatched thigh-high socks—that was styled into two gravity-defying cones atop her head. She had a great number of piercings in her ears and three along her lower lip. The rest of the band members looked relatively normal, the blonde keyboardist wearing a simply navy uniform, the drummer with long black braids dressed in a coat of the same color with a green plaid skirt, and the tan bassist in a red plaid skirt and a plain white button-up; she wasn’t wearing shoes. Their playing though told an entirely different story.

 

The crowd was riled up in no time, the mosh pit already forming just in front of the stage that slowed only when the song ended.

 

“I’M IBUKI MIODA, ON BASS IS AKANE OWARI, ON DRUMS IS TENKO CHABASHIRA, AND ON KEYS IS KAEDE AKAMATSU! WE’RE REMNANTS OF DESPAIR LET’S FUCKIN’ GOOO!” hollered the lead singer in rapid speech, immediately transitioning into an ear-splitting guitar riff after finishing her introduction.

 

The band followed up this energy and began playing again. The familiar, jittery feeling welled up within him again, and before he knew it, he had hopped into the pit, kicking, running, skanking, and throwing elbows with the best of them. Sonia gasped, but a curious grin played on her lips as Souda entered the fray. She and Miu jumped next to each other, banging their heads and throwing their hair. Even Gundam nodded along.

 

Gundam watched as Souda was tossed round and round the pit, gleefully slamming people and taking blows. After a couple of songs, Sonia pulled Gundam down to her level to say in his ear that she and Miu would be going to the back of the building to hang out by the bar. He gave her a nod and turned his attention back to the show.

 

Miu hitched her arm through Sonia’s, shoving aggressively through the crowd until they reached the outer edges. She walked her over to the bar, they both ordered another round of drinks and were glad to more easily be able to chat.

 

“The lead singer is totally gorgeous!” squealed Sonia, gazing at Ibuki from over Miu’s shoulder.

 

Miu turned around and looked at the performers, “Yeah she’s okay. Who I’ve _really_ got my eye on is the keyboard on the right.”

 

Sonia her in for only a moment before her attention was wrenched away by a woman emerging from the crowd and walking toward the bar. She was about Sonia and Miu’s height, but something about her seemed much bigger. Perhaps it was her two enormous pink-blonde pigtails that connected to her scalp in faucets springing from a white teddy bear head on the right, and a black on the left. Sonia noticed next how tiny her red skirt was, how long her pale legs looked as they tapered into expensive black leather boots. Her eyes trailed up the woman’s black shirt and long, duo-chrome tie and up to her pointed face and pale blue eyes. Sonia hadn’t even noticed that this woman was walking straight up to her.

 

She also hadn’t noticed her little posse until the three of them fanned out next to her. The girl had a proud, almost wicked smile on her face.

 

“My name’s Junko Enoshima,” she said in a cool, yet preppy voice as she stuck her hand out to Sonia, “And you are?”

 

Sonia was struck by the way Enoshima offered her hand, not flat and sideways to signify a shake, but with her palm facing down, fingers slightly splayed. Reverting to her prim and proper upbringing, she gently took Enoshima’s hand and pressed a light kiss to the knuckles.

 

“Sonia Nevermind,” she replied politely, still holding Enoshima’s hand close to her lips.

 

Enoshima smirked at this and took Sonia in hungrily, “Hmmm, well _hello_ Sonia.”

 

Sonia blushed lightly and moved a lock of hair behind her ear, which revealed Miu in her peripheral vision.

 

“And this is Miu Iruma,” she added quickly.

 

Miu waved vaguely at the mention of her name, distracted with the show. Sonia looked around at Enoshima’s crew. On her left was a taller man with wild white hair and an almost sedated grin wearing an oversized black hoodie over an equally baggy striped shirt. He wore a spiked collar on a leash that lead to Enoshima’s wrist. On her right was a short, anxious-looking woman with straight purple hair and choppily cut bangs. Lurking just behind Enoshima, was another woman about her height with short black hair and a smattering of freckles across her face. The more Sonia looked at the woman, the more she seemed to look like Enoshima herself. The women matched in tan school uniforms that had an insignia over the left breast which seemed to be an amalgamation of the two bears on Enoshima’s hair split directly down the middle.

 

“Who are your, erm… friends?” Sonia asked, looking at all three of them.

 

The two women looked surprised at being addressed, the man hadn’t made any sign that he had even noticed her speak. Enoshima’s expression seemed to harden a little as her lackeys were brought up. She looked almost like a big sister who had been forced to take her little siblings along.

 

But she didn’t falter for long, assuming her warm tone again, “This tall drink of water on my left is Nagito Komaeda.”

 

Nagito seemed to come into the moment as Junko caressed his arm. He waved dazedly.

 

“How’re you doing?”

 

Enoshima moved on before Sonia could answer, reaching behind her and pulling the black-haired woman into view, “This is my twinnie, Mukuro Ikusaba.”

 

Sonia was surprised; she would have penned them as cousins, sure, but definitely not twins. However, beneath Ikusaba’s freckles and dark hair, she really did have Enoshima’s face.

 

“And last and, let’s be real, probably least, is wittle Mikan Tsumiki,” Enoshima crooned, grabbing the short girl by the cheeks and wiggling her head like a grandmother would her grandchild; perhaps a little harder than that though.

 

The girl forced a laugh but reached up with bandaged fingers all the same to nearly wrench Enoshima’s hand away before she decided against it. Enoshima let go of her face and turned her attention back to Sonia.

 

“Can I get you a drink, Ms. Nevermind?” she asked, her voice suddenly velvety smooth and low.

 

Sonia blushed harder and nodded.

 

Enoshima and Sonia chatted for the remainder of the show, Miu having long since abandoned Sonia to join the crowd again. Enoshima’s friends lingered nearby, though he had let go of Komaeda’s leash. Before she knew it, Ibuki from Remnants of Despair was saying her goodnights to the crowd, which was chatting and dispersing. She thought vaguely of sticking around to express how impressed she was with the performance, but her attention was stolen yet again by the charm of Junko Enoshima.

 

—

 

From inside of the pit, Souda noticed Gundam nod to a parting Sonia and Miu. This moment of distraction was a mistake, however, and an unknown culprit’s fist connected with his face. Souda, still going with the circle, felt his nose and new that the blood was absolutely gushing. Filled with a sick delight, he flung his arms and shoved the crowd, feeling his own fist connect definitely with some skin.

 

Gundam watched as someone punched Souda hard in the face. His immediate gut reaction told him to go in there and get him; help him get out of there. Then Souda came into view again, Gundam saw his bloody, sharp-toothed grin, and another reaction in his gut told him to grab Souda again, but this time was in order to mingle his lips with those stained ones. He bit his cheek, turned his attention back to the band, and tried to just enjoy the music.

 

Souda found Gundam easily after the show came to an end, being that he was nearly six feet tall and almost unmissable.

 

“That was fuckin’ incredible,” Souda panted, walking up to Gundam.

 

Gundam smirked at him and the two walked toward the bar. Feeling punch drunk and giddy, Souda ordered a round of highballs for himself, Sonia, Gundam, Miu, and Sonia’s new friend.

 

“I’m Kazuichi Souda, by the way,” Souda added after the four of them kanpai-ed.

 

The woman and Sonia were already a little drunk, leaning on each other and giggling.

 

“‘m Junko Enoshima,” slurred Sonia’s friend.

 

Suddenly Miu gasped and thrust her hardly-touched drink into Gundam’s hand, “There’s that keyboardist! I gotta go!”

 

With that, she dashed into the crowd and set after the girl. Gundam looked after Miu, to the drink, to Souda. Souda snickered.

 

“I think it’s yours now.”

 

Gundam finished his two drinks quickly and left to the bathroom stumbling a little in the time it took for Souda to finish his one. Souda had to go too and made his way back to the bathroom. When he walked in, he saw Gundam carefully re-smudging his eyeshadow. Souda quickly relieved himself into one of those dingy trough urinals that bars like this always seemed to have. He went to the sink next to Gundam, washed his hands, then his bloody face, and dried them both. Gundam seemed to be looking at himself with that strange look that everyone looks at themselves when they are drunk and staring in a mirror.

 

“Wanna go smoke a cigarette?” Souda offered.

 

Gundam nodded and walked with him out into the alley. They both walked a little way down before finding a clear spot on the thin curb next to the building. Once sitting, Souda procured his cigarettes and removed two, handing one to Gundam. Souda lit the lighter between the two of them and they both leaned in to spark their cigarettes with the flame, Gundam’s eyes briefly catching Souda’s during their short moment in close proximity.

 

They smoked quietly, just sitting together and observing the passersby and eavesdropping on someone’s music playing from a phone nearby. Suddenly, without it occurring to either of them until it had already happened, Gundam rested his head upon Souda’s shoulder. He tensed momentarily and then, heart beating furiously in his chest, he leaned his head back onto Gundam’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i sort of imagined Remnants to be a cross between System of a Down and Unsraw lmao two very different things, i know. thanks again for reading!


	7. Community Gardens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the long wait is over! i’ll try to make the next break shorter

Souda’s mind moved a mile a minute.

 

 _Oh my God, what is he_ ** _doing_** _? Is he tired? That’s it right? Just tired ‘cause he’s had a couple drinks! But why my shoulder? Why not lean against the wall or into his hands? Does he think I’m… No, no he doesn’t! Oh, but why wouldn’t he when I’m leanin’ right back against him! Why_ ** _am_** _I leanin’ against him? Why does his hair smell so good? What is that, lavender? God, Kazuichi, get yourself together and stop being such a little fa—_

 

Shrill laughter suddenly shattered his thoughts. Souda jumped, which caused Gundam to lift his head off of his bare shoulder. Gundam looked at him with equal parts concern and shock. Souda was mortified. He tried to apologize, but the laughter came through the darkness of the far end of the alley to interrupt again. The source of the laughter became clear as Sonia’s new acquaintance Enoshima came stumbling out of the shadows with her arm around Sonia’s waist, her group of friends trailing behind the giggling pair. They stopped in front of Gundam and Souda.

 

“Go meet me in the car,” Enoshima said to the three following her.

 

The girls nodded without saying anything, Komaeda just followed them out. As they walked by, the shortest girl caught Souda’s eye. When he noticed her looking back at him, she gasped anxiously under her breath. The freckle-faced girl grabbed her by the back of the arm and got her moving along faster, eyes facing determinedly forward. Souda shivered.

 

Enoshima turned to Sonia, taking both of her hands. Sonia smiled at her warmly.

 

“Tonight has been so awesome, Junko! Meeting you has been a pleasure,” said Sonia as she looked up into Enoshima's pale blue eyes.

 

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Enoshima replied, her voice taking on that smooth, cool quality that she seemed to be able to put on at will.

 

Sonia looked as though she could melt then and there, “Y-You have my number, yes?”

 

“I do, and I’ll be putting it to use,” she chuckled, slender hands sliding up her arms to hold her shoulders and pull her closer as she planted a little kiss on Sonia’s cheek before she started to walk away.

 

“G’night Sonia, G’night Sonia’s friends,” she said to them in her more familiar Barbie-esque prep as she waved goodbye with long, graceful movements of her arm.

 

“Goodnight!” Sonia called, still touching the spot where Enoshima kissed her.

 

She turned to the two of them when Enoshima was safely out of earshot and squealed. Sonia grabbed Gundam by hands and pulled him to standing so she could jump up and down with excitement. He smiled back at her with a sincere interest and sweetness that made Souda’s heart twinge.

 

“Gundam! Did you see how _gorgeous_ she is? Oooh and she’s funny too! And _so_ charming. Her father is a Councillor, it seemed like we have a lot in common! Oh, you two, I am so excited, I hope she calls soon!” Sonia gushed, squeezing Gundam’s hands.

 

Souda stood up and ashed his cigarette out against the brick wall, holding onto the butt to toss when he found one of the receptacles for them out on the street.

 

“Yeah she seems cool,” Souda nodded before recalling how weird her little posse made him feel even in their passing encounter, “Her buddies don’t seem much for conversation though, huh?”

 

Sonia shrugged, her smile faltering a little, “I suppose not. Junko says they’re a shy bunch.”

 

Souda rushed to correct her smile back to its previous excitement, not wanting to ruin her mood, “Guess you’d have to be hanging around a girl like her, she seems pretty outgoing!”

 

Gundam nodded, patting the top of her hand with one of his, “She-Cat, I am delighted that you have succeeded in courting and attracting a potential mate this evening.”

 

Sonia snickered, “Goodness, Gundam, you make flirting sound like a nature documentary.”

 

Souda laughed at that, which made Sonia laugh too and eventually even Gundam, still blushing, joined in. Sonia let his hands go so he could finish his cigarette. She appraised the two men standing against the wall across from her.

 

“You two seem to be getting along well lately,” she observed, a little smirk forming on her face.

 

Gundam turned his face so she couldn’t see him. Souda gulped and tried to play it cool despite his coloring cheeks.

 

“Y-Yeah, I guess so. It’s been nice, y’know? Hangin’ around with you guys,” he bit his lip and thought for a moment before worrying the pink flesh from his sharp teeth, “Wish we could’a done this when we were kids too.”

 

Sonia gave him that you’re-so-sweet-it’s-almost-painful look at this little gesture of vulnerability. She reached out and touched his shoulder, thumbing tenderly over his tattoo.

 

“I have often found that growing up helps people grow into one another.”

 

Souda smiled at her appreciatively for these kind words. He looked over at Gundam, who had turned to be able to — _look at him_ — watch them talk. Their gazes connected, lingered, then quickly broke.

 

—

 

Enoshima did in fact put Sonia’s number to use. She called Sonia a couple of days after meeting her to ask her for the next weekend. They were set to do something Sonia hadn’t done since she was a little girl: ice skating! The idea enchanted her, as did Enoshima’s offer to pick her up Saturday evening. She spent the entire week leading up to the date gushing to Asahina about how gorgeous and intriguing Enoshima was. Sonia absolutely couldn’t wait to get to know more about her.

 

She and Asahina carefully deliberated over what outfit she would wear to the ice rink before eventually decided Sonia should wear a pair of black leggings and an oversized emerald green sweater layered with a very long, tan cable knit cardigan, which Gundam had given to her as a birthday present last year. Sonia turned in the mirror, examine the outfit from all angles as Asahina watched from her bed.

 

“Mhm, perfect. And you should totally wear those little boots you have!” Asahina said with a smile, turning one of Sonia’s dark velvet pillows over in her hands.

 

“Good idea!” Sonia agreed, walking over to the corner of the room to pull on the pair of dark brown ankle boots that sat there.

 

Sonia checked the outfit in the mirror again. She looked, as one might say, “not bad!” She put on the final touches: her usual adornment of silver rings, one of which matched Gundam with its wine-colored ruby; and her silver pendant which bore a six-pointed star surrounded by symbols that looked like little animals and stars. It might have looked like gaudy costume jewelry if it wasn’t so unmistakably worn from decades—perhaps centuries—of handling. The thing bore a weight heavier than the silver it was made from.

 

She had discovered this necklace, not upon meeting Gundam, but far before she had ever imagined the wideness of the world and the possibilities beyond the shores of Novoselic. Back when there was nothing in the world more exciting than visiting her grandmother at the ancient Nevermind Estate.

 

The Neverminds were amongst the oldest families in Novoselic. They were Lords and Ladies in the olden days when the Crown _actually_ held power, now they were inhabitants of varied influential positions. From a general of the Royal Militia to a powerful judge married to a professor at the largest technical institute in the nation. Never far from power. Never directly in it.

 

Ancient Neverminds didn’t attribute their dynastic longevity solely to their renowned intelligence, nor to their moral code which prized bravery and justice. It wasn’t their influence, and it wasn’t their luck either. It was something much greater than them. Something much greater than nations; greater than humans. They described something that is intangible, and yet dominatingly powerful in the forest. The something that stirs in a shadow. The black, vulnerable knowing in a deer’s eye. The sureness of what to do when spring comes. The comprehension of what comes after a pair of glowing eyes are spotted in the dark.

 

The Neverminds of yore had an uncanny ability—as so many from everywhere all over the world, they’d be quick to add—to understand these forces. The pendant had been passed down through Nevermind generations with the story that an immortal sorceress named Sonia had made the pendant for her husband, Gable Nevermind, for their wedding day. Legend had it that Gable was able to woo the sorceress into a union because he was the first mortal she had met who truly understood her magical credence. So, for Gable, Sonia gave up her immortality for love.

 

While this history was well known and well recited—usually at holidays by inebriated uncles—the Nevermind family’s magical history was largely explained away. The consensus these days was that the connection to magic was made up to entertain kids like Sonia and that the story of Gable Nevermind and Sonia the Sorceress was an old folktale used to explain away Gable’s fiancée’s quirky behaviors. The pendant itself had been appraised by anthropologists nearly thirty years before Sonia was born; it was a great source of mystery, especially since it was seemingly the only part of the tale that verifiably true. After all, the symbol which the pendant bore was from a genuine, ancient,  occult-aligned religion.

 

They found that the pendant was actually five-hundred years younger than the legend would date it. This implied that the pendant was probably created by a member of the Nevermind family in order to further wrap children up in the story. Someone probably saw the symbol in a book and decided it looked spooky enough to cast in silver to wave in front of kids during the holidays.

 

But Sonia had always reserved her suspicions.

 

She had obtained the pendant to keep when she was around thirteen years old while celebrating New Year’s at her grandmother’s. Sonia knew the estate wasn’t _just_ her grandmother’s, but rather _all_ eldest Nevermind children before and after her; it was Sonia’s as much as it was her mother’s. Her grandmother was the one who lived there year-round, though, so Sonia grew up associating the mansion and its belongings with her. This was why her grandmother’s nonchalant attitude when Sonia asked to keep the pendant to be shocking, as she was usually ardent about keeping family heirlooms in the mansion where they would be safe. Sonia had proposed the question a little after dinner while her grandmother sat in the parlor sipped a drink in her high-backed, green velvet chair next to Sonia’s uncle.

 

“Oh yes, dear, for heaven’s sake, take the dreadful thing,” she had responded with her usual exhausted, semi-dramatic air as she swirled her glass of brandy, “The children nowadays aren’t entertained as much by the story and it clashes with the rest of the jewelry in the display. I don’t like bringing it out anyway, the markings are… disturbing.”

 

Sonia had worn the pendant practically every day since, becoming especially attached to it when she moved to Japan. She knew the symbol on the pendants was not unique to her family and could be found elsewhere in the world, but she never knew anyone who could recognize it until she met Gundam on her first day of school. As soon as they were dismissed for their first break, she was crowded by the class, with Souda paying overwhelming amounts of attention to her. They were all quite nice, but she could hardly absorb anything they were saying. Gundam emerged from the shadows and approached quietly, which made the crowd fall into a stunned silence.

 

Sonia had never seen anyone like him in her entire life. His streaked hair was styled intricately into an impossible wave, he wore dramatic clothes, he had a mysterious scar, mismatched eyes… and he even wore _earrings_! Her attention was piqued immediately. Gundam stopped in front of her, looking momentarily into her eyes before reaching out and taking the pendant into his hand. The crowd gasped at his bold move. He examined it silently.

 

“Hey man, you can’t just go touchin’ the new girl!” Souda cried from the crowd, obviously trying to layer some conviction into his jealous tone.

 

Gundam ignored him and stared at the pendant, running his bandaged thumb over the markings. He held it as he looked back to her.

 

“Would you mind having a word,” he looked around at their classmates warily before adding, “alone?”

 

Sonia nodded. The crowd “ooooh’d” as they walked away together. Gundam took her out into the grounds where they sat alone by a tree, perusing his books about the occult and how the symbol on Sonia’s pendant related to it. It was a generic summoning rune; a common symbol which people used to signify connections to the occult. Gundam recognized it immediately, though it was the first time he’s seen it in person from someone who wasn’t himself. They both liked that about each other, how similar yet different they were. Sonia had met her best friend, and Gundam had met his. Brought together with entropic ease and mystical familiarity.

 

Sonia loved the pendant, not just because of what it represented literally, but what it represented emotionally. She thought of all of this as she clasped it around her neck. Asahina clicked her tongue, bringing Sonia out of her daydream.

 

“C’mon, Sonia, do you _have_ to wear that thing?” she asked, displeased with the way it clashed with her casual outfit.

 

Sonia just smiled at the six-pointed star that stood out against the green fabric, “Yes, I do.”

 

—

 

Enoshima called Sonia just as the sun started to set, letting her know that she had arrived. Sonia said goodbye to Asahina, grabbed her purse, and hurried outside. What she saw stunned her.

 

Parked by the curb below was Enoshima standing next to a sleek, dual-toned sportscar, the right side painted all white, the left side painted all black. The red leather interior stood out of the dropped top like exposed viscera. Sonia wasn’t good with cars, but if Souda were here, he would have sung endless praises about how incredible Enoshima’s customized Nissan GT-R was. Sonia hurried down the stairs.

 

Enoshima looked equally as stunning. Her lengths of strawberry blonde hair were all tied back into one ponytail high on her head. She wore a powder blue peacoat which had pristine white fur lining the collar and wrists. Sonia could just barely see the hem of her cobalt skirt peeking out from beneath the coat; it reached _just_ far enough to conceal her. Reaching high up on her thighs were a pair of cotton socks of the same whiteness as the fur on her coat, two little fur balls dangling cutely from either of them. Enoshima squealed as she descended the final stair, her immaculately painted red lips parting to show her dazzling smile as she rushed over to squeeze Sonia tightly.

 

“Sonia! O.M.G, you look _so_ good!” she gushed, holding Sonia away from her by the waist so she could get a better look at her.

 

Sonia blushed and giggled, hands still on Enoshima’s upper arms, “Please, Junko, you flatter too much. I mean, look who is talking!”

 

Enoshima laughed and stepped back to give her a little twirl and Sonia clapped, a smile still on her face.

 

Enoshima reached over and opened the black passenger door, “After you.”

 

Sonia curtsied a little sarcastically with her cardigan and thanked her as she climbed in. Enoshima’s heels clicked against the pavement as she circled around the car to get into the driver’s seat. She turned the car on and it purred to life, sounds of J-Pop filling the air. She slid a pair of oversized sunglasses onto her face, shifted the car into gear, and practically peeled out of the parking lot. Never in her life had Sonia ever got downtown in less than ten minutes, but Enoshima gave no shits and took no prisoners behind the wheel. They were at the ice rink in two TWICE songs flat.

 

Sonia hopped out of the car as fast as she could, running around to open Enoshima’s door for her. The way Enoshima gracefully stepped out of the car and slid her shades off of her face to put them on her seat made Sonia feel like security to an important celebrity or something. Enoshima smiled and laced her hand with Sonia’s shutting her door and locking it with the remote on her keychain as they walked. Sonia looked back at the convertible.

 

“Are you going to—

 

But her question was answered faster than she could get it out as Enoshima clicked another button on the remote to reattach the roof. The building was quite large and looked something like an indoor gym or pool from the outside.

 

The inside told a much different story. The ice rink had to be about thirty meters across and took up the majority of the room. On both sides of the rink, behind the glass were steel bleachers that a couple of people sat on now. Behind the bleachers were sets of tables underneath hot air warmers, where more people sat and enjoyed snack bar food. Nearer to the front was a couple of counters to get snacks and rent skates. The ceiling was a tall series of iron rafters that stretched into a dome above their heads. Being that it was night time, LED strips that were lining the rafters cast the room and the skaters in a changing array of colors that changed in time to the song playing.

 

The two of them walked over to counter to rent their skates; Enoshima’s treat, much to her insistence. Sonia slid her skates on and helped Enoshima into hers before lacing their arms to hobble toward the gate of the rink, giggling the whole way. It took a moment for Sonia to get used to, but she eventually got the hang of it. Enoshima seemed to have no trouble at all as she skated literal circles around Sonia.

 

Suddenly, the LED lights turned a rosy color, pulsing there slowly as a slow song came over the speakers. Enoshima smirked at Sonia, taking her by the hands and pulling her along as she skates backward. Sonia eventually matched her speed and took them another step farther by lazily turning them in wide circles. Then, Enoshima reached forward and placed a hand on Sonia’s waist, their other hands outstretched like they were about to tango. Their spinning grew faster yet as Enoshima placed her other hands on Sonia’s waist, forcing Sonia to grab her shoulders to stay upright as their spinning became unexpectedly fast due to the momentum. She hadn’t even noticed the song reaching a crescendo before Enoshima drove her foot down hard into the ice and effectively swept Sonia off of her feet as she dipped her and stopped their spinning all in one fluid motion.

 

Heart pounding, Sonia looked up into Enoshima’s pale blue eyes, still striking in the flood of pink light. Sonia was—to say the least—thoroughly romanced. She would have kissed her right there if Enoshima hadn’t straightened up to help her stand on her feet again. They kept an arm around each other’s waist as they skated around the perimeter in with long strides.

 

“Where did you learn to do that?” Sonia asked, still a little breathless.

 

Enoshima shrugged, “I didn’t! I’m just kinda naturally good at stuff, y’know?”

 

Sonia giggled and let herself be pulled closer to Enoshima’s side. After a few more songs an even a rousing game of Daruma-san ga koronda, wherein the “statue” was actually a large white bunny plus that Enoshima won almost without effort. Though she seemed to want the bunny less than she wanted the other skaters to lose.

 

“Well, we can’t really skate with this one playing third-wheel,” Enoshima said, lifting the bunny by the hand, “Wanna get, like, a milkshake or something?”

 

Sonia nodded, taking the bunny’s other hand and skating toward the gate, “Yes! I will get the milkshake if you can go get us a seat. What flavors do you like?”

 

Enoshima thought for a moment as she stepped out of the gate, pausing so Sonia could find her footing on the solid ground.

 

“Okay, so, like, if they have any _good_ rose flavoring— and I mean _good_ , not that pink bubblegum crap they have sometimes that just tastes like sugary perfume. But if they don’t have that, strawberry is cool.”

 

Sonia nodded and walked her over to the booth they were going to sit at. She quickly slid off her skates and helped Enoshima once again with hers, taking them with her padded over to the snack bar in her socks to put in her order (they did not have rose flavoring, let alone the “good” kind) before going over to the skates counter. She exchanged the skates for their shoes and slid hers on there, walking back to the booth with Enoshima’s in hand. As she passed the snack bar again they already had their milkshake prepared, so she grabbed that too.

 

Enoshima clapped giddily as Sonia slid the milkshake in front of her and set her shoes down by her feet. Enoshima grabbed two striped bendy straws out of the little cup on their table and tweaked them so one faced across the table toward Sonia. They both leaned in at the same time to take a sip, so close that their noses nearly brushed. Sonia sat back a little after she was finished, but Enoshima remained where she was, smiling at Sonia with lidded eyes.

 

“Can I ask you a question, Miss Nevermind?” Junko asked, flipping her switch and turning on her cool, smooth voice that Sonia was already a sucker for.

 

Sonia swallowed, “Yes, of course.”

 

Enoshima stirred the shake with one hand and pointed at her pendant with the other, “What is that?”

 

Sonia was surprised, looking down almost expecting a stain or something to be there before she spotted the familiar pendant, which she took in both hands and held out to Junko, “This? It is an heirloom that has been in my family for centuries, from the very first Sonia Nevermind! I am the thirtieth.”

 

Enoshima reached out and ran her fingers lightly over the engraved markings, “What does it mean?”

 

“Well,” she began excitedly, “it is a very common summoning symbol. It is actually quite generic in practice and is rarely used by skilled practitioners such as Gundam and myself. We try to operate under specifics, we find it the best way to approach the unknown. But this symbol is often used almost as a calling card.”

 

Junko returned to stirring and took a sip before saying, “And has anything ever, like, _worked_ for you guys? Like in your little rituals or whatever?”

 

Sonia could imagine Gundam’s outrage if he had heard her call their practices “little.” She shrugged.

 

“It depends on what you define as success.”

 

“Well like, do you two have any disciplines you try and focus on?”

 

Sonia thought about that for a moment, “I suppose we have been dabbling in reanimation lately, but we have not had any progress. The most “successful” thing we have undertaken so far is manipulation.”

 

Enoshima rose an eyebrow, her little smirk breaking almost into a grin, “Manipulation?”

 

“Yes! We have been able to manipulate The Dark Devas— er, some of Gundam’s hamsters into following tasks beyond their usual capacity. For example, we were once able to choreograph them dancing to his one of little sister’s favorite songs for her birthday a couple of years ago!”

 

Enoshima’s smile was of someone who had heard _exactly_ what they were looking to hear. Sonia leaned forward and took another sip.

 

“Wow, that’s totally nuts!” Enoshima exclaimed, shifting her expression toward curiosity.

 

She leaned forward as well, looking into Sonia’s grey-green eyes; something like seawater on a stormy day. Enoshima rested her chin in one of her hands, sharp red fingernails standing out harshly against the pale of her skin. Sonia chewed her lip.

 

“Do you think it could work on people?” Enoshima asked.

 

She sounded like she might know more than she was letting on. Sonia searched her face for a moment before taking the time to consider the question.

 

“Theoretically, yes. However, Gundam and I have been trying very hard for years now manipulate human action. We usually try on one another and take turns attempting to get one person to make the other a cup of tea against their will. The most I’ve been able to do is get him to take down cups from the cupboard,” Sonia said, finishing with a little laugh at the memory.

 

Enoshima was looking excited now, but she reigned it in as she spoke, “Well, that doesn’t seem very theoretical to me! It’s probably only a matter of time before you totally nail the tea-making crap!”

 

Sonia laughed, “Perhaps. But the practice does seem to work best on animals overall.”

 

Enoshima chuckled then. It was almost a hollow, knowing sound.

 

“But aren’t humans just animals?” she retorted, not humbly stating the place of human beings in the world, but almost speaking of people and animals as though they were two equal things situated below her on the food chain.

 

Sonia shivered, but couldn’t find room to disagree, “Yes, I suppose we are.”

 

—

 

Elsewhere in Towa City was Kazuichi Souda hanging out on his balcony and helping his best friend, Hajime Hinata, unpin sheets from their clothesline. Hinata insisted they try and get some major cleaning done before summer kicked off and neither of them was around enough to care. They had been going at it all day, even getting one of those magic eraser things to clean the walls, which were much dirtier than Souda had expected, given they were still sort-of-white before he had taken the time to clean them.

 

He grabbed the basket, let Hinata add the last folded sheet to the pile, and walked it inside to put it down. The house smelled like the lemon tile cleaner they used on the floor, Souda quite liked it. He put the basket on the couch, straightened his beanie, grabbed a beer each for himself and Hinata out of the refrigerator, and returns to the patio to sit with his friend.

 

“Here ya’ go, man,” he said as he handed it across the little table to him before sitting in the foldable metal chair and cracking his open.

 

“Thanks, man,” Hinata said, popping the tab and extending it out to cheers with Souda.

 

Souda chuckled, tapped his frosty can with Hinata’s, and took his drink in unison with him. They both admired the setting sun for a minute or two before Hinata turned to him again.

 

“What do you wanna do for your birthday?” he asked, taking a sip and making his “listening” face, “You wanna have a party?”

 

Souda shrugged, “I’ll just be turning twenty-one. The big one was last year.”

 

Hinata chuckled at the memory, “Well we don’t have to go _that_ hard this time, but we can still do something. We’ll get Fuyuhiko to come down, too. Would you care if I invited Izuru?”

 

Souda shivered at the mention of Hinata’s twin. Izuru Kamukura always gave Souda the heebie-jeebies. He would often come down for the summer from his father’s to visit Hinata and his mother. Hinata did the reverse in the winter. During those holidays, Kamukura would insist on playing fucked up little games he came up with out of the sheer boredom Hinata’s and Souda’s games seemed to cause him. His favorite was to suggest hide-and-seek, call that he would want to be the hider, and then leave Hinata and Souda searching for him for hours in panic while he left back to the house to read a book. But Hinata loved him and always insisted that there was a glimmering light behind the dark exterior of his twin, so Souda tried not to insult him.

 

“Sure, as long as you don’t think he’d be too _bored_ ,” Souda said, jabbing the final word with a laugh.

 

That was always Kamukura’s thing: unyielding, incurable boredom. Hinata’s smile faltered, but he nodded.

 

“Yeah, that’s true. I’ll have to see how he’s feeling.”

 

Souda took another drink, “How’s he doing by the way? Does he still have that girlfriend?”

 

Hinata shook his head, “No, she wound up being kind of a cheater.”

 

Souda laughed, “How can someone be _kind of_ a cheater? Seems like a one-and-done thing.”

 

Hinata chuckled too, “Okay, okay, she was an _entire_ cheater, how ‘bout that?”

 

Souda chuckled as he took another swig, “Still, that sucks for Izuru. Hope he’s doing okay.”

 

“Yeah, it’s been a couple months. Seemed like she was bringing out the worst in him anyways, so it’s better off this way.”

 

Souda nodded, taking a final drink and crushing the van in his hand. He patted his pocket for his cigarettes only to realize that he had smoked his last one earlier that day. He sighed and stood up.

 

“I’m gonna go walk down to the store and get s’more cigarettes. D’you want anything?”

 

“I’m good,” Hinata said, lifting his can to his mouth, “Get more beer if you want it.”

 

Souda nodded and turned heel out of the apartment. He walked down from the landing and out to the street, deciding as he passed the nearest convenience store to walk down to the cheaper one at the end of the block. It was a nice enough night anyway, the smell of rain wafting warmly from the damp sidewalk. He thought about miscellaneous improvements he could make to Kiibo as he walked; a nice wig instead of his metal headpiece so he looked even more approachable, a tweak or two to his vocal modulator, and they’d have to pick up an update from Fujisaki soon to make sure he was running at maximum efficiency.

 

He stepped into the store, contemplated the beer selection before deciding on a six-pack of Suntory. He purchased that alongside his HOPE brand menthol 100s. Hinata introduced these to him last year on his birthday and he made the brand switch almost immediately. Souda thanked the clerk and walked back out into the street, briefly pondering why they stared at him so hard before remembering how usual he really looked. Lots of people had naturally colorful hair, sure, but hardly anyone had teeth like his, filed or not.

 

Souda’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a tiny bark on the sidewalk next to him. He stopped in place and registered the sound before he turned his head to see a little white puppy panting happily up at him from under the awning in from of the entrance of a store. A pet store, he realized as he looked inside the open door. Souda smiled at the puppy and adjusted his grip on the pack to hike it up under his right arm so he could hold the puppy with his left. He picked it up gently and walked it inside, setting it back in a little gate where its sleeping siblings lied and moved a box in front of the gap it had squeezed itself through.

 

Now that the puppy was safe, he took the time took look around the tiny shop. It was lined high with cages and tanks of all sorts, some filled and some empty. They stretched all the way to the back of the shop, where someone could be heard rummaging around.

 

“Hello?” Souda called.

 

No answer.

 

“Hey, sorry to bother ya’ but one of your dogs ran outside, I had ta’ bring it back in.”

 

Still no answer, but there was the sound of movement and someone’s low, sort of pleasant humming.

 

“Hel—

 

Suddenly there was a scream from the back of the building followed by a loud clattering. Souda’s stomach dropped, yet he ran back there without thinking, quickly setting his beer down next to the dog gate.

 

He rounded the blind corner of a tall birdcage and the scene came into view. The surprise of seeing Gundam faded quickly as he registered two things at the same time: Gundam clutching his rapidly bleeding left arm and the coiling, hissing snake on the floor by his feet. Souda couldn’t help the half-gasp/half-yelp that left his mouth. The snake wasn’t enormous, but its looks were alarming, what with its large scales and light brown coloring contrasted with black markings.

 

Gundam spoke through gritted teeth, “D-Do not fret, she is not venomous. It is my fault, I—

 

Souda snapped out of his terror, “You’re _bleeding_! Do you keep a first aid kit?”

 

Gundam jerked his head behind the counter to their right. Souda took care to walk around the snake as he hurried behind the counter to search for the kit. It was quite cluttered with papers and miscellaneous animal supplies, but he found the white plastic case soon enough. He stood back up and set the kit on the counter to see Gundam still standing by the cages, holding his arm. Souda, running on adrenaline, ran around the counter, grabbed Gundam’s good arm, and whipped him around to shove him onto the stool behind the counter.

 

With shockingly steady hands, he opened the kit and sighed with relief as he found inside gauze, alcohol, cotton balls, cotton pads, tape, bandages, and pain reliever. He beckoned Gundam to extend his bleeding arm and located the bite on his forearm. He gingerly held him by the wrist and carefully poured the alcohol over the two gashes. He dabbed it dry with cotton balls and pressed two cotton pads to the wound.

 

“Hold it there for me,” he instructed.

 

Gundam did as he was told, pressing his other hand to the pads as Souda unraveled the gauze. He carefully wrapped up the arm and taped it down, sighing audibly with relief when the danger was over and Gundam was no longer likely to bleed out. As they both panted away the adrenaline, Souda looked him over.

 

Gundam’s hair was tied up into a little half bun, his headphones wrapped around the back of his neck. He was wearing black slacks, sensible black shoes, and a dark purple polo shirt with the words “Tanaka’s Breedery” embroidered in gold on the left side of his chest. That location of that little detail forced the memory of Gundam’s nipple ring into Souda’s mind. He blushed. Gundam stood up and walked around Souda to go back and properly put the snake back. It didn’t bite him, just flicked its tongue at him as he put it in its tank.

 

“Why’d it bite you?” Souda asked as Gundam walked around to the other side of the counter that Souda was at and leaned on it.

 

Gundam sighed, looking genuinely disappointed in himself, “I was being careless. Hypnotized by the dangerous machinations on my cellular phone, I neglected to remember that she is nesting and is likely to get aggressive when disturbed. Bull snakes are a largely non-aggressive species… when someone is treating them competently.”

 

Souda almost reached out and touched Gundams hand, but thought better of it, “But you’re not dumb ‘er whatever! Like you said, you were just distracted! There’s no use in goin’ and beatin’ yourself up over it! Seems like she worked you over pretty good anyway.”

 

And much to Souda’s surprise, Gundam laughed at that. Not his usual deep, rolling chuckle, but he actually _laughedp_. It almost sounded as unlike the goth as his current attire did, what with its raspy, indulgent quality. Souda would have done anything to hear it again.

 

“Yes, I suppose she did,” Gundam conceded with a nod, which turned to a look of question, “What brings you here today, Tamer of Automatons?”

 

Souda snickered at the nickname, “Well, actually it’s pretty weird! I was just walkin’ down ta’ the store to get s’more cigarettes, and I was on my way back when I saw one of yer’ little dogs out front. I brought it back inside ‘n even called out a coupla times. Ya’ probably didn’t hear me over yer’ music. Say, is this your family’s place?

 

Gundam nodded and walked to the front of the store to check on the dogs.

 

“Yes,” he called as he went, “this is my family’s business. We breed show-worthy animals of any species.”

 

He came back after a moment holding Souda’s beer.

 

“Is this yours?” he asked a little teasingly.

 

“It might be,” Souda said with a smirk.

 

Gundam set it down on the counter and resumed the spot where he was leaning, though he leaned a little closer to Souda now; close enough for him to notice how close he was, anyway. Souda felt suddenly parched.

 

“Cigarettes _and_ Suntory? You’ll dig yourself an early grave, Kazuichi.”

 

And suddenly it was all too much for Souda. The low vibrato of his voice as he used Souda’s first name for the first time, his lidded eyes, his plush lips parting as he leaned down just a fraction closer to Souda’s face. Did Gundam plan to _thank_ him somehow, for his valiance? Oh please, Souda felt like an idiot just thinking that. He felt even more like an idiot for having just sat there so long and stared at Gundam without acknowledging neither his movement nor his joke. Nervousness overcame him and he leaned back, grabbing his beer and walking around the counter and hurrying to the door

 

“Yeah! Ha-ha, maybe you and Sonia can resurrect me when I die or somethin’! I gotta go! Bye!”

 

“I— Goodbye! And Thank you!” Gundam called after him, sounding confused.

 

Souda practically ran home, mentally kicking himself the entire way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone’s response so far has been so incredible!! i just finished up another semester of school so hopefully i can whip out the majority of this out during the summer! please let me know what you think!!


	8. Juice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a Gundam-centric chapter!! cw for some semi-graphic descriptions of child abuse and mentions of parental death. i’ve updated the tags accordingly but i just wanted to give an additional heads-up!

His alarm was loud. Gundam had to set it that way due to his tendency to sleep heavily. It only ever sounded off twice—at most three times—before he shut it down. They may be heavy sleepers as well, but the risk of awakening Ama and Hoshi at three in the morning was one he was not keen on taking. 

 

For as long as he could remember, Gundam liked to keep his surroundings as dark as he could for as long as he manage when he first woke up. He would slip sleepily out of bed and pad through the blackness to his bathroom without turning on a single light. His mother had given him the master bedroom about two years ago, shortly after the accident; another one of those countless things he was guiltily grateful for. Grateful to upgrade from the futon and a bathroom shared with a couple of little girls, guilty because it was his mother who took his place. It was her idea, and all of the pushback Gundam could muster couldn’t convince her to change her mind. Perhaps she just didn’t like being in the room anymore. He tried not to think about it. 

 

He ventured back into his room, grabbed his most recently used towel from the back of his door, and braved the blinding light in his bathroom to turn on the shower. Gundam used to like his showers scalding, but years of reprimanding from Sonia (which he took seriously, due to his envy of her flawless skin) eventually convinced him to shower at a relatively normal temperature. Sonia had taught him a lot about how to take care of himself. 

 

When Gundam was about twelve years old and just starting to sprout facial hair, his father, Akumu Tanaka, took a moment out of his day to show him how to “get that ferret off of his lip.” He snatched Gundam off of the couch by his upper arm and held it firmly as he piloted the skinny boy into the bathroom. He practically tossed Gundam out of his grip, causing the tween to balance himself on the counter.

 

“Stand up straight, young man. Put some respect in your posture when I am speaking.”

 

Gundam stood up straighter and nodded obediently, looking away from Akumu’s piercing scarlet eyes, “Yes, sir.”

 

Akumu grunted in approval of the response. He swung the medicine cabinet open and grabbed his own dark blue, plastic razor along with a new, identical one out of the small package where only one fresh razor remained. He handed it to Gundam, who took it without meeting his gaze. The sound of Amaterasu’s screeching sobs floated back to them. Akumu’s eyes flashed like the razorblades did when they caught the light and his fist tightened. Gundam swallowed nervously; his father hated the sound of a baby’s cry, even if it was his own daughter’s. 

 

“Ena!” he yelled, not bothering to lean out of the bathroom and filling the entire bathroom with his thunderous demands, “Ena, shut that fucking kid up!”

 

He slammed the door shut on Ena’s offended reply, making Gundam jump. Again, he steadied himself on the counter. Akumu huffed and ran his fingers through his brown hair, which had flopped over his eye in a wave so much like Gundam’s natural pattern. He looked over at his son to ask what he had been talking about, but said something else.

 

“You are getting taller, too,” he noted with chilly formality.

 

Gundam didn’t breathe as Akumu quietly scrutinized him, trying hard to focus on his own reflection in the mirror and attempted to reduce the tremor of his shoulders. Akumu hadn’t often put his hands on Gundam—Ena often got in the way to take the blows before any harm could come to him— but the few times he had been able to get his hands on the boy was enough to turn the fear Gundam already felt from witnessing his mother bear the brunt of his father’s anger into proper terror that manifested anytime he was around.

 

Akumu’s method was to use bar soap, lather, and shave with cold water. Gundam didn't question it much and used the same cheap soap to shave as he did to wash his face. Years six through nine were torture on Gundam’s skin and he developed quite the acne problem. It was around that time that he began to wear his enormous scarf to hide the combination of razor burn and acne that sometimes flared to mortifying statuses along his jaw and on his cheeks; plus, it was an additional comfort in a life that treated him less than warmly. 

 

Once Sonia got to know him better, she recommended him a good facial soap and taught him the wonders that shaving cream can do coupled with a sharp razor that had more than two blades. She was even the one who both helped him create his gravity-defying hairstyle which so defined him in high school even going as far to figure out an easier way to style it later once he was forced to take getting up extra early for work into account when he got ready in the morning. But most importantly, she helped him develop further confidence in himself by not merely humoring him and his interests, but being his partner and confidante. His father could call him a freak all he wanted, but Gundam knew what he believed in and that he was not alone in doing so. He could call Gundam derogatory names, pin him by the back of his neck and force him under the running water in the kitchen sink to roughly wash his face and hair as many times as he wanted, but Gundam knew that if he arranged to get to school early enough, Sonia would let him sob into the crook of her shoulder while the hallways were still silent, and that she would help him do his hair while he applied eyeliner in the mirror she stuck to the inside of her locker. Sonia had always been very dependable. 

 

Gundam reached into the shower and felt the temperature of the water before stripping himself of his sweatpants. He inspected some minor wounds and scars before he climbed in, taking time especially to inspect the now-healing snake bite which Souda had dressed and tended to a week or so ago. He recalled the way the mechanic rushed out of the shop right as they were starting to have a good conversation. Gundam mulled the scene over in his mind as he parted the curtain and stepped inside to stand under the warm stream. Perhaps he was starting to make Souda nervous.

 

He washed up quickly, despite the fact that it was a conditioning day for his hair. He wrapped a towel around his waist after drying off and walked back into his room to get dressed in his work uniform. After he was clothed, he quickly ran the towel over his wet hair a couple of times to catch most of the drippage. Before continuing into his bathroom once more so he could brush his teeth, blow-dry his hair and put in his earrings, he stopped by the Devas’ cage in the corner of his room and filled their various little bowls with feed; he changed their water the night before.  

 

By four o’clock he was completely ready. Gundam slid on his black cardigan and walked out into the apartment as he tied up his hair. The smell of marinated tofu cooking filled the air and he could hear it softly sizzling along with the hum of the news. His mother, Ena Tanaka, was awake and making the two of them breakfast along with meals for his two little sisters, Amaterasu and Hoshiko. They were each over ten years younger than twenty-one-year-old Gundam; Ama at age ten and Hoshiko at age nine. Ena looked up as she heard her son walk softly into the room, tightening her black and white streaked ponytail.

 

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Ena said quietly, smiling at him as he walked around the counter to kiss her on the cheek.

 

“Good morning, mother,” he responded, looking into the kettle to make sure it had enough water before turning it on so he could make them some tea. 

 

They stayed like that together in comfortable silence, just enjoying the quiet ease of the early morning. Another guilty gratefulness filled Gundam. Their mornings used to be a frazzled rush of slammed cabinets and rushed whispers in an effort to delay the shouting to the afternoon, but now it was a time to enjoy each other’s company without any hurry. He was grateful for the serene time with his mother, guilty for enjoying it at his late father’s expense, though when Akumu was alive he cared very little about the expense he put his wife and children through. He died in an automobile accident on his way to pick up a show-winning shiba inu which the Tanaka Breedery was to breed with another prize-winning shiba in order to create the ultimate money-making puppies. Gundam’s first dose of guilty gratefulness filled him whenever he found out his father died on the way to get the dog and not with the dog in the car. 

 

The local newspapers mourned with the Tanakas. Ena kept the clippings bemoaning the loss of such a pioneer when it came to animal rights advocacy in the breeding industry. Since its opening when Akumu was about twenty, Tanaka’s Breedery had always been hailed for the extent of care taken for the animals, whether it be the mother, father, or eventual spawn. Each animal was guaranteed round-the-clock supervision due to Akumu’s loft being situated right above the shop, as well as ample space to move around and the best nutritional care. The clippings were pinned next to the register, above various awards; six from the Japan Kennel Club (two of which had been won by Ena and Gundam after they took over), three from the Fédération Cynologique Internationale.

 

The kettle was boiling in no time. Gundam quickly scooped the loose jasmine tea out of a jar on the counter and into the infuser. He poured the water into two teacups as Ena prepared the two of them a couple of slices of grilled tofu over rice—hers with an egg on top. Ena was taking slow steps to becoming vegan like Gundam, but had a weakness for eggs and cheese. Otherwise, the entire Tanaka family had been vegetarians for nearly three years of Gundam’s nine years out of practice. She placed the little bowl of pickled vegetables on the table between their spots across from each other. Gundam brought the tea over and placed gently set the porcelain down. They clapped their hands together softly, Itadakimasu-d, and started in on their breakfast. Ena spoke up after a few moments of the two of them looking into the living room next to them to watch the news. 

 

“Ama’s homeroom teacher is doing visitation next week,” she said, serving herself some vegetables with her chopsticks, “So I’ll need your help getting this place cleaned up.”

 

Gundam nodded, remembering how long it had been since his own homeroom teacher came around to figure out what Gundam’s life at home was like. He recalled a gentle, yet prodding question from the man that was largely rhetorical: “Do you think he is so withdrawn because of the harshness of this environment?” Gundam went back to school on Monday terrified he would be expelled for Akumu’s subsequent decision to throw his teacher out, claiming the question was a direct affront to his pride and that Gundam liked animals more than people because people were, often times, judgemental idiots.

 

“And you’ll have to stick around the day that she comes, they like to see how everyone in the family interacts with each other,” she added, taking a sip of her tea and raising it to Gundam with a slight smirk of approval, grey eyes crinkling at the corners.

 

He smiled a little too, “I will be present. What day is the ringleader of pups slated to arrive?”

 

“Next Tuesday during your lunch hour, I asked her to come then so we wouldn’t have to close the shop for an extra hour.”

 

Gundam nodded again. They finished up their food by half-past the hour and he helped her with the dishes before leaving. He laced up his work shoes in the doorway before heading out the front door onto the landing and down the stairs into the Breedery below. He slid his headphones over his head and pressed turned on a playlist Miu made which he had been listening to lately. He hummed as he made his way down the rows of cages and tanks, feeding and watering the various animals and taking time to give the ones that were awake a scratch or two. 

 

He never expected to work in the Breedery, but the responsibility fell on his shoulders soon after Akumu died and Ena was left to raise three children on top of taking care of a business all on her own. Ena was a resilient, strong woman, but she wasn’t superhuman. Gundam saw how much strain it was putting on her and he knew he had to step up and take over the majority of the business operations. He kept track of their arrivals and departures, conducted deliveries and pick-ups, and made sure the bills were paid at the beginning of the month. The usual schedule had Ena coming down in the afternoon to take care of things while Gundam was out at school, but since classes were out of session much sooner than the grade schools, their schedules were more varied on a day-to-day basis. Watering, feeding, and cleaning the habitats usually took the entirety of the three hours leading up to their opening time of eight o’ clock. 

 

Most business at Tanaka’s Breedery was done over the phone and through email. People occasionally walked in, but usually left without any inquiries once they found out that it wasn’t a pet store and that all of the animals in the store were already owned. He was lost in the quiet clacking of the computer keys and he exchanged emails with the future owners of the prize-winning pups at the front of the store when two pairs of heavy, quick footsteps came galloping down the stairs from the apartment. 

 

Hoshi beat her sister in their little race, jumping down the last two steps and throwing her arms up in victory. Gundam smirked as her two little pigtails swayed with the action. Hoshiko had the plain brown hair of her father’s, but had her mother’s eyes exactly. She was loud and passionate, qualities which had actually flourished since her father’s passing. Amaterasu jogged in shortly after her, silent jealousy on her face from her loss. She was marked distinctly as a Tanaka to anyone who saw her, what with her long, streaked hair and her piercing red eyes. She was a quiet, contemplative child and had a hard time relating to the majority of people; animals were easier. But Amaterasu had always adored Gundam. She turned to look up at her brother.

 

“Are the puppies going home today?” she asked him.

 

Gundam turned in his chair and leaned down a little to talk to her, a soft, disarming smile on his face, “It seems that they will be, does that trouble you?”

 

She shrugged, looking away from him because she couldn’t help but smile, “I guess not, I just wish we could keep the little white one.”

 

Hoshiko rushed over to stand in front next to her sister, speaking loudly up at Gundam and interrupting her, “Gundam!”

 

“Hoshi—

 

“Gundam, is the iguana done shedding yet? You hafta’ pick me up, I can’t see!”

 

His attempt to admonish her withered and he stood up, walking over to the far wall to peek into the tank on the third row which held the iguana Hoshiko was referring to. It was easy for him to see from his height that the gorgeous fire iguana had shed the last of it skin to reveal its brilliant colors beneath. Gundam leaned down and picked up the eight-year-old easily, holding her up to his eye level so she could see more clearly. Hoshiko gasped and pressed her nose to the class, breathing hard against it and making the iguana scoot back. 

 

“Hoshi, don’t scare him like that,” Ena chastised from the stairway, holding two backpacks belonging to both girls.

 

He let her gape at the reptile for a little while longer before setting her back down onto her feet. Ena handed Hoshiko the pink backpack that was hers and Amaterasu the old, grey one which was plastered with angsty lyrics, phrases, and pictures in permanent marker accumulated by Gundam over his time in grade school. She didn’t mind the grunge, in fact she actually liked it. They both slid the straps over their shoulders and faces their backs to Ena so she could place their lunches into their bags. As soon as they were zipped up, Hoshiko made to run out of the door.

 

“Race ya’ to the corner, Ama!”

 

Amaterasu’s jaw worked with irritation and surprise, “Hoshi, wait! Bye, Gundam!”

 

With that, his two sisters bolted out of the door to the corner of the sidewalk just beyond view of the store’s windows. Ena sighed and smiled softly, shaking her head. She adjusted her purse on her shoulder and looked up at her son.

 

“I need to go pick up a few things from the store on my way back. Do you need anything?”

 

Gundam shook his head.

 

“Okay, honey, take care,” she said, placing a hand on his forearm.

 

Gundam leaned down to her height so she could kiss his cheek and Ena was on her way to walk her daughters to school. He looked back to the computer to see that an email had been sent to the store within the time it took for the girls to leave. The owners of the puppies at the front would be arriving at the end of the day to pick them up. Gundam sent off his reply quickly, cleared the junk mail from the inbox, and stared at the words  _ “No Messages” _ in the middle of the screen. He procured his phone from his pocket and checked it; no messages there either. 

 

He sighed. He shouldn’t be surprised by the fact, after all the only person who really ever messaged him was probably still sleeping or just waking up. More guilty gratefulness bubbled up within Gundam at the knowledge that Sonia would text him as soon as she could, even just to wish him a good morning. The guilt came with the idea that she might feel somehow obligated to check up on him because she knew no one else would. Sonia was kind and selfless like that. 

 

Gundam didn’t think he was kind, nor selfless. In fact, he had been constantly confounded by Sonia’s presence in his life. How could someone so personable and intelligent even stand to be around someone like him? Someone so cold and so strange and so flawed and so scarred that he could hardly bear to be touched sometimes. Someone who could become so downtrodden for no real reason at all that he’d lock himself in his room for days, ignoring messages from the one person beyond his mother who even cared to check up on him. Someone whose life could be going entirely fine and could still find the room to worry about whether anyone he knew truly wanted him around. 

 

Sonia’s text message vibrated his phone almost on cue, snapping his attention to the screen, which beheld a banner that read:

 

[From: The Dark Lady: Good morning G~~! ʢ◉ᴥ◉ʡ I hope you are having a good day so far, tell your mother I say hello! Junko and I are going out to breakfast this morning at a new restaurant downtown~ ´͈ ᵕ `͈ ♡°◌̊ Call me when your shift is over!]

 

Gundam’s heart swelled, and his lips played into a little smile. Sonia always had a cosmic way of knowing how to make him feel better with very few words. The gratefulness came with less guilt now. He’d call in a few hours.

 

He slid his headphones back on and returned to work. As he changed liners in cages while he listened to his music, he thought absently about Miu and Souda, two new-ish members to his contact list. Souda never really messaged him, but Miu occasionally sent him links to new playlists or a strange meme regarding goth culture that could make him chuckle at most. But it was the very most he had ever achieved in regard to making friends. 

 

A bird with almost fluorescent pink feathers flew by his face as he cleaned its cage and Gundam’s thoughts snagged onto Souda again, bringing the vision of the rosy mechanic’s expression of horror and concern as he tended to the snakebite into the forefront of Gundam’s mind. He thought about the sunspots on the high points of Souda’s face, the wildness of his hair, the way that the glint of a tongue piercing peeked out from behind those entrancingly sharp teeth. Souda was a handsome fellow, especially since high school. Gundam found him utterly unattractive back then, mostly due to his overbearing disrespect toward his best friend and partially because of the fact that Souda hadn’t figured out just how often a person needs to shower so they don’t come to school reeking of motor oil and sweat. 

 

He chuckled to himself, knowing there was bound to have been several occasions in which he came to school smelling of sawdust and animal droppings. But they were both older now; quite different people from who they were as teens. At least Gundam liked to think he was different from then. Still a little strange and most undeniably Gundam Tanaka, Overlord of Ice and Shadow, but now more open to new experiences and getting to know other people outside of Sonia or his family. He closed up the birdcage and took a few water dispensers to the sink in the back for soaking. He filled the left basin with hot water, added a little dish soap, then submerged the dispensers while he rinsed off his cleaning tools in the basin on the right. Lost in the work and the loudness of his music, he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

 

Ena reached up and slid the headphones off of his ears and he turned quickly to appraise the offender. Upon seeing it was his own mother, he let out a tense breath.

 

“Gundam, don’t make such scary faces! You’re going to freeze me where I stand someday,” she chuckled, leaning down to grab the grocery bags she had placed on the floor. 

 

Gundam quickly dried his hands and grabbed them before she could reach. Ena smiled and took advantage of his crouch to kiss his forehead. 

 

“Thank you, honey. How about we close for lunch and I’ll take over afterward?”

 

He nodded, walking up the stairs to the loft while his mother locked up the store. He unpacked and put away the couple of bags of the things she had purchased: dish soap, laundry detergent, coffee grounds, some aloe drinks, and a couple of sandwiches. Gundam had already tucked into his veggie sandwich by the time his mother had come back up. 

 

“The Lady of Darkness and Mysticality has asked me to bid you a greeting, along with her best wishes,” Gundam said between bites.

 

Ena smiled, unwrapping her egg sandwich, “Well, tell Sonia I say hello as well. Are you going to see her today?”

 

Gundam nodded, “Hm, yes, I do believe that has been forecasted.”

 

“Oh good, I was going to give her some jasmine incense that Ama doesn’t like the smell of. I’ll leave it on the counter and you can take it with you.”

 

He nodded, already a few bites away from finished with his sandwich; he was hungrier than he realized initially. When he was finished, he thanked his mother and walked back to his room to quickly wash himself of the days work. As he passed the open door of Ama and Hoshi’s shared room, his eye fell on a bright pink stuffed monkey on their floor. Again, Gundam’s mind was directed straight to the thought of Kazuichi Souda. He paused there for a moment, then chuckled and continued to his room. 

 

Thinking of the other man once or twice a day was nothing notable by any means, given their most recent interactions; three times was permissible, though definitely something to remark, but  _ four _ times? Four was a number Gundam had always learned to pay attention to. Growing up he was taught to avoid and fear the unlucky number as most children were, but it was exactly for that reason that had always sought it out. He decided to take this as a sign and let his mind wander where it would dare.

 

So as he stripped himself of his jewelry and garments before starting the water, he thought of the tattoo on Souda’s shoulder and the way it shone, sweat-slicked under the fluorescent lights of the garage when he tied his jumpsuit round his waist to reveal his undershirt. As he stepped under the shower and let it saturate the stark paleness of his skin, he imagined the squint of Souda’s eyes and the parting of his lips as he tried to listen to whatever it was Gundam had to say. As he grabbed a bar of soap and began to lather himself, he pictured Souda’s smile and the razor-sharpness of those teeth. As he moved a scarred hand across the flat plain of his abdomen, he recalled the glint of silver on Souda’s tongue; a round ball of metal made warm by its place in the wetness of his mouth. Gundam forced his eyes open, chuckling in a nervous breath as though he were convincing someone he was only kidding. He swallowed hard and finished his shower quickly. 

 

He dried himself off and wrapped the black towel around his hips. Not much steam had collected in the short time his shower took, so he had an easy time seeing as he applied a little bit of black eyeliner onto his lower lid, affixed his jewelry once more, and slicked his blow-dried hair back. Gundam walked out into his room, casting the towel to the side as he pulled on a pair of black jeans that featured various straps on the legs and thighs; he had always been impartial to underwear. He rifled through his closet before landing on a plain grey t-shirt and leaned down to the bottom of the closet to pick up his trusty black boots. He walked over to his bed to sit down and call Sonia before putting them on. She answered on the second ring.

 

_ “Gundam! Hello,”  _ she said cheerily from the speaker of his phone.

 

Gundam slid his foot into the boot, “Good afternoon, She-Cat, I hope you are faring well.”

 

Sonia giggled on the other end,  _ “Oh, Gundam, Junko and I had the most marvelous time this morning! I cannot wait to tell you about it. Are you off of work? May I pick you up? I want to go get some milk tea!” _

 

Gundam smirked, tying the shoes up. He knew he didn’t really have the money to get any of his own, but he was happy to go with her.

 

“It would be a pleasure,” he said warmly.

 

_ “Good, because I am already in my car! I will be there in ten minutes!” _

 

Gundam laughed, “Ten minutes it is.”

 

They both hung up, and Gundam took the spare time to sage the little altar in the corner of his room, which matched Sonia’s in many respects, though it was more personalized. Where Sonia’s altar was adorned with bells, trinkets, and gems all with the principle of balance as the forefront, Gundam had selected symbols, stones, materials, and even certain ethically-obtained bones that promoted the forces of protection and strength. He made sure to properly sage the altar and leave an incense burning everyday. Gundam hurried through the process, quickly lighting an incense and leaving the room when he heard Sonia honk for him out front. He snatched the box off of the counter and walked down the stairs, pulling his scarf down from the coat rack as he passed it. His mother was already leaning into Sonia’s car and chatting with her when he came down. Ena turned with a smile as she heard Gundam approach.

 

“Oh good, you grabbed them. Well, you two have a nice time!” she said, stepping away from the door to let Gundam get into Sonia’s white Honda Civic. 

 

“Goodbye, Mrs. Tanaka!” Sonia called 

Gundam waved at her as she walked back into the shop while Sonia pulled away from the curb. Sonia looked at him from the corner of her eye from a moment.

 

“Letting your latest injuries breathe, I see,” she noted with a little smirk.

 

He chuckled, “Indeed. It is customary for a demonic warrior to flaunt his battlescars to the public so all mortals might fall to the floor, weeping and bowing to their savior from an unseen foe. They must know how I’ve protected them.”

 

Sonia laughed, “What an honor, to accompany such an accomplished knight! Tell me, Sir Tanaka, will your next fearsome enemy be the tri-headed Pomeranian of The Seventh Circle?”

 

That image made them both burst out in laughter, Gundam doubling over and holding his arms across his stomach while Sonia wiped her eyes so she could focus on driving. She spoke after they both caught their breath.

 

“The restaurant Junko took me to this morning was  _ unbelievable _ ! It is called Le Petit Déjeuner, which just means ‘the breakfast’ in French and, first of all, it opens at five in the morning and closes at eleven-thirty because it is only open to serve breakfast! And it was their grand opening today, so the entire restaurant was absolutely  _ filled  _ with people! The line out the door was stretching around the corner! So Junko and I showed up around eight a.m.—probably one of the busiest hours of their day— and Junko just grabbed me by the hand and  _ walked _ all the way to the front of the line!”

 

Gundam chuckled under his breath, thinking he knew how harshly they were about to be turned around and that the “unbelievable” thing was they something someone said. 

 

Sonia continued, “So she gets up to the front, and  _ everyone _ in the line is glaring at us, but Junko did not look at anyone but the host, who seemed more surprised than anything. Gundam, it was the most remarkable thing I have ever witnessed: the only thing she had to do was take her sunglasses off and the host knew  _ exactly  _ who she was! He practically summoned a table from thin air, but he sat us immediately!”

 

That surprised him. “Hm. I assume you are being hyperbolic when you say that it was the  _ most  _ remarkable thing you have ever witnessed, need I remind you of the exceptional horrorterrors you and I have encountered as go-betweens of this world and the Next, but I must agree in saying that her powers of influence are exceptional and most unusual.”

 

Sonia nodded, pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, “It was so… hm. I still do not know how to feel! I am comfortable with the fact that she is well-known, but…”

 

Gundam knew what she meant. Enoshima  _ did  _ decide to cut all of those people simply because she could. He couldn’t promise he wouldn’t do the same thing, given the opportunity, but he had a feeling that Enoshima was the type of person to throw her image around for the sake of getting what she wanted whenever she wanted it. They both seemed to steep in the knowledge of this truth for the remainder of the drive, though they arrived soon enough. 

 

It was a cute little bubble tea shop that Sonia absolutely adored because they added different sorts of jelly candies to the bottom with the tapioca pearls, as well as the seemingly endless flavor combinations. She parked the car in front of the store on the street, putting a coin in the meter. They joined the short line inside; Gundam gazed absently at the menu. 

 

“What are you going to get?” Sonia inquired as they moved up to the second place in line. 

 

Gundam moved his hand up to the edge of his scarf, thumbing it, “I will not be getting any tea-based confectioneries today, my funds do not permit it.”

 

Sonia tsked at him, “Do not be silly, Gundam, I will get it for you, just pick what you want.”

 

He shook his head, “I cannot—

 

“Gundam, I insist,” she said with a finality that Gundam didn’t dare to challenge.

 

They moved up another place in line.

 

“I will try whatever combinations of flavors you desire in my own beverage, if it pleases. You are getting almond milk, yes?” he asked.

 

“They actually have cashew milk here! I was thinking of getting a melon tea with some of those vegan lychee jellies,” she said.

 

He nodded, approving of the choice. They moved up to the counter, placed their orders, and received their drinks quickly; yet another reason why Sonia liked coming to this particular shop. They took their seats at a small table by the window and stabbed the thick straws into the lids, both taking simultaneous sips then pausing for deliberation.

 

“Mmm, that has to be my favorite so far!” she exclaimed, as she did every time she came in and tried a new flavor, “What do you think?”

 

Gundam chewed the tapioca in his mouth slowly, distracted by a couple on the other side of the shop; they were sharing a large tea and giggling to each other from across the table. He noticed Sonia’s voice change to a question, snapping his attention from the pair back to her. She raised an eyebrow and turned to look where Gundam was staring. She turned back with a knowing sort of look that made him grab the hem of his scarf and draw it over his nose.

 

“You already know what I am going to say,” she said, smirking and taking a sip of her drink.

 

Gundam looked away from her, holding the scarf over his blushing cheeks.

 

“It  _ would  _ be a good idea for you to date around, Gundam! Anyone would be lucky to be with you. I will say it as many times as it takes for the message to sink in!”

 

He avoided her gaze determinedly, but it just made her smirk grow into a grin. 

 

“Come now, your silence makes me think there is someone on your mind,” she started, trailing off in a way that invited him to interrupt her at anytime.

 

Gundam wanted to object, but his throat grew suddenly parched. He narrowed his eyes at Sonia and slowly lowered the scarf as he grabbed his drink to take a gulp. She gasped like it was all of the proof in the world.

 

“I knew it!” she cheered, causing a few patrons to look over at their table. 

 

He shook his head and put the cup down, “Alas, most afeared Sorceress of Animalistic Perception, you know not. The reason for which I did not do hastily respond to your inquiry was due to a temporary curse casted upon my esophagus. Had I not been forced to remedy the affliction with this beverage, I would have said—posthaste— that there is no beast-tamer alive which can suppress me into such debasing affections.”

 

Sonia twirled her finger around her straw, listening to Gundam with the expression of a person holding a royal flush when her opponent has just laid down a four-of-a-kind. She played her hand once he was done defending himself. 

 

“Are you sure? Not even a certain little pink-haired mechanic who so valiantly tended to you a week ago?” 

 

Now Gundam went entirely crimson, his stomach flipping at the mere suggestion. His jaw worked to defend himself, but no words came to him. It seemed Sonia had casted some kind of spell on him that rendered his entire mouth dry when he tried to make excuses. She noticed how worked up it seemed to make him, so she didn’t push the issue any further.

 

“You do not have to say anything,” she began as Gundam took another drink of his tea, “But, just know that—well—I think you are fantastic, Gundam. And I am sure that there are others in this world who would love you to share yourself with them.”

 

Sonia reached across the table and placed her hand comfortingly on his. He smiled a little at the gesture, looked up at her, and simply nodded. Sonia grinned and smiled back, giving his hand a squeeze before launching into a mostly one-sided dialogue about various topics ranging from how intriguing and incredible Enoshima was to how she and Gundam should celebrate the summer solstice. He listened about as well as he could, but by the time she had taken him back home, Gundam could only recall about as much of the conversation to know that the two of them would be making a visit to Osaka to visit shrines and the stable which the Tanakas boarded their livestock come late June, but the other topics eluded him. His mind was ravaged with pictures of pink eyes staring up into his; of his own pale, ringed fingers slipping between tanned, calloused ones as though it were the easiest thing in the world. He let these images float him up the stairs and into his room without a word.

 

Gundam opened the door and shut it behind him, not bothering to turn on the light as he entered the steadily dimming room. He watched for a brief moment as the sun sunk beyond the buildings in the horizon, casting the sky in a rosy glow. He smirked at that little detail before turning around to let the Devas out of their cage. He held Jum-P and San-D in his hands, Maga-Z on his forearm, and Cham-P on his shoulder. He let the hamsters scamper out of his hold and onto his bed before casting away his scarf and carefully climbing onto the bed around where they all grouped together, waiting for their master to get comfortable. Gundam laid his head down on his pillow and clicked his tongue twice for the hamsters to approach. They all did so hastily, their little paws grappling over his legs and torso to cuddle up in their favorite spots on either side of his neck, his chest, and his forehead. He shut his eyes as they got comfortable, letting their soft warmth do its magic of melting his worries. Gundam gently reached up to his chest and stroked the sleeping orange ball that was Cham-P. San-D and Jum-P stirred one after the other in the crooks of his neck, and Maga-Z walked herself in a circle to find a more comfortable spot on his forehead before coming to rest again. 

 

He had always found such an immense solace in his Devas, and their soothing presence was enough to make him drift off into sleep; all the while visions of razor-toothed smiles filled his mind. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait guys! this chapter was more of a challenge than i was apprehending ^^; btw the song for this chapter is juice by slothrust, not juice by lizzo (tho that song does go hard). thank you for reading and enjoying!!


	9. Like or Like Like

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone! this chapter contains descriptions of drug use, specifically weed smoking.

In his nearly twenty-one years of living, Souda hadn't had much experience in the dating world. As a boy, one of the girls at his daycare had proudly declared him her boyfriend, albeit because her favorite color was pink. He hadn’t had much more dumb luck with women beyond that childhood fling. He had vague crushes on various girls in his classes during middle school, but nothing had ever hit him harder than meeting young Sonia Nevermind at the primetime of puberty. 

 

She was all he could have ever dreamed of. In Souda’s pubescent eyes, Sonia was the perfect combination of the bikini model on the back of the garage door at his father’s shop and his second-year teacher, Miss Arita, who had kind eyes and a patient manner. Souda had properly fucked his chances of being with Sonia from the day she arrived, though. When she stepped through the homeroom doors a few days after the beginning of their ninth year’s term, Souda’s breath had immediately left his lungs in a sort of gasp that might have suggested he punctured a lung upon seeing her. 

 

Sonia was introduced to the class by Miss Yukisome, though Souda could hardly hear anything his teacher was saying. Sonia had a soft blush coloring her cheeks, and she kept moving the same piece of blonde hair behind her ear out of nervousness. She bowed to the class and said her thanks when Miss Yukisome finished her introduction; Souda was surprised by her fluency in Japanese. He squeezed both sides of his desk as she looked between the two empty seats in the class: one behind Saionji in the second row, and one between himself and Gundam Tanaka in the front row. His prayers were answered as she sat down between himself and the goth. He noticed the other boy staring hard at her and decided to pounce on the opportunity to be the first interaction she’d have with a peer.

 

Two trains of thought collided catastrophically, merging an inquiry and an introduction: _Are you a princess?_ and _Hi, I’m Kazuichi Souda!_ Which came out as:

 

“Hi! I’m a princess!”

 

Sonia just stared at him with an awkward smile on her face, obviously trying to figure out if she had heard him correctly or if her mind had mistranslated. Souda clapped his hands over his mouth, as Kuzuyru cackled from the back row.

 

“Yeah man, you’re a real fuckin’ fairy princess!” he laughed, making some of their classmates chuckle.

 

A combination of mortification and fury rose within Souda, driving him to stand quickly and turn to Kuzuyru.

 

“H-Hey don’t just—,” he paused to swallow, fists shaking from rage at his sides, “Don’t go callin’ me a _fairy,_ you fucker!”

 

Sonia gasped and Kuzuyru’s smile faded into a spiteful frown. 

 

“That’s enough boys! Kazuichi, meet me outside,” Yukisome said sternly, pointing to the classroom doors.

 

Souda turned back around to look at her with pleading astonishment, but she didn’t falter. He sighed and pushed his chair in. He chanced a look over at Sonia to convey is regret, but she was determinedly staring at the fake wood of her desk. Souda’s every attempt thereafter to convince her he wasn’t an overly-emotional freak only further convinced her that he was that very thing, with a dash of obsessive tendencies. Eventually, Hinata helped him to work on correcting his behavior, but it was too late for him and Sonia to develop a friendship at that point.

 

So, come college, Souda began carefully avoiding her as a sort of courtesy for her comfort. In the meantime, he turned his sights on a few other women from various classes, but it had only ever worked out to be a handful of dates leading into a few one-or-two-time fucks, but nothing substantial. He eventually wound up spending too much time in the garage with Miu to spend time running around going on dates. After all, he’d have to go out to his dad’s to help him flip a car and take half of the profit to get the money for said dates—as he always did when he was strapped for cash— and doing that always meant spending at several weekends at his dad’s place, which sounded like the exact opposite of what he felt like doing at any given time. Two days of incessant insults broken up by long periods of unbearable silence was not on his slate for weekend plans; no one was worth facing that shit for. 

 

But, something… _concerning_ was happening to Souda. 

 

Nearly two weeks ago, after Souda had literally run away from figuring out whatever feelings were being conjured within him after he helped Gundam tend to his wound, he had yet to feel any kind of relief from his thoughts surrounding the other man. In fact, sometime after the incident, the passing thought of seeing if his dad had any motorbikes he could flip by himself for a profit so he could get some more cash and, well, spend some of it on someone.

 

He laid on his bed, staring at a message from his father:

 

[From: Dad: we got a suzuki and a honda. suzuki is newer but i already have honda parts. come up next weekend.]

 

Souda tried to recall what kind of bike that dude in the garage had, rolling over in bed. 

 

_What was his name? Oogami? No, that was Sonia’s roommate’s girlfriend._

 

As though he summoned her, a message from Sonia appeared in a small bar above his short message thread with his father. Souda tapped on the banner to read what she had to say.

 

[From: Miss Sonia♕: Kazuichi~ ヾ(＠† ▽ †＠）ノ It has been too long! I know it is sort of last minute, but I would like to invite you to come over to bake cookies with Gundam and I around noon! I hope you can make it, we miss you very much!]

 

Souda shook off the uncanny feeling that came with Sonia’s sudden text message that came almost as if she could hear what he was thinking. He tapped his thumbs on the cracked screen of his phone, trying to avoid getting even more microscopic pieces of glass stuck in his thumbs. 

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Ya sounds cool i’ll be there around 12]

 

His thumbs hovered for a moment before adding:

 

[To: Miss Sonia♕: Miss you guys to]

 

Souda turned to check his bedside clock, not having looked at it since he woke up a short time ago. The green, digital numbers shone the time plainly back at him as eleven o’clock on the dot. He yawned and stretched his thin, yet strong body as he scratched his scalp. After taking a moment to detangle his fingers from the wilds of his hair, Souda willed himself to stand and get in the shower. 

 

He stepped around the clutter on the ground before swinging his door open. He could hear Hinata enjoying his Saturday morning by gaming in the living room and talking over his headset about a “raid” and getting “Chiaki” to “drop the payload.” Normally, Souda would stop to watch for a while, but he had pressing matters to attend to that involved brushing his hair, which was often quite the endeavor when he left it to tangle for as long as he had. Souda walked to the linen closet and grabbed a towel before entering the bathroom.

 

He had spent the last week going out to the garage at the school to work with Miu on something they were calling the Arms project, which largely required him to keep his hair either in a beanie or tied back. The two of them sought to remake both of Kiibo’s arms into two sturdy, yet hollow appendages that could accommodate the presence of two full-sized automatic weapons, one which used plasma as ammunition, and another that used standard 12-gauge bullets. They had finished both pairs of arms at that point, as well as both of the guns, which they planned to take to a range to test themselves. They’d agreed to take the weekend off, though. Miu said she was taking a member of Remnants of Despair out on a date on Sunday and needed the entire weekend to get her preliminary sweating out of the way. 

 

Souda locked the bathroom door behind him as he shut it. He set the towel on the counter and reached in a drawer below the sink to procure his blue hairbrush. He stared at it like it was an enemy before bringing it to his head and starting in on the hard, slow work of detangling his hair. By the time he was finished, his eyes were watering but his hair laid flat on his head until his cowlicks in the back rose to life and gave him the look of a pink hedgehog. He sighed and started the shower; at least it wasn’t tangled anymore. 

 

He took a longer shower than usual, what with the fact that he needed to wash his hair and push the excitement he felt toward the prospect of seeing his two new friends down every time it threatened to bubble over the surface. Souda firmly believed that people could leave him at any given time and that he needed to hold most people at an arm’s length to avoid betrayal. Hinata had long-since proved to him that he wasn’t going anywhere, and the same went for Kuzuyru—despite their somewhat tumultuous background. 

 

It began around the time that he was ten, shortly after his mother got _really_ sick and had to stay at the hospital round-the-clock, that he began to withdraw from his superficial friendships and cling impossibly close to the few friends he actually kept. If his own mother—his own kind, understanding mother—could leave him at home alone with that drunken asshole, then what would his school-buddies be willing to do to him? He couldn’t take the chance, and even though she had been dead for a little over a decade, Souda still felt that rush of nervous anxiety when he felt himself getting closer to another person. It made him want to smoke a cigarette. 

 

Which is what he did, after he towel-dried his hair and body before dressing himself in a pair of black, knee-length shorts as well as a dark green tank top. He sat out on his patio, tapping his black chucks as he looked down at the street below absently. The back door slid open behind him, and he turned to see Hinata step barefoot onto the patio, stretching and turning his tan face to the sun. 

 

“Chiaki is answering her door for a delivery person,” he said to Souda as he walked over to the rail, looking down at the street as well, “I decided to get some fresh air. She made me hungry, though. If I get something delivered, do you want anything?”

 

Souda shook his head, blowing smoke out in a thin, white stream, “Nah, I’m gonna go over to Sonia’s. We’re makin’ cookies, I guess.”

 

Hinata snorted, “A month ago, you would have been practically jumping off the walls at the thought of going to Sonia’s place. You guys have become pretty good friends, huh?”

 

Souda chuckled and shrugged, “Yeah, I guess so.”

 

Hinata smirked, “Did you join her and Gundam’s cult?”

 

The mechanic’s face paled at that and he hurriedly took a drag from his cigarette, “D-Don’t go jokin’ around about that stuff, bro.”

 

Hinata snickered, watching as an old woman walked her dog on the sidewalk below, “Well, bring some cookies back home with you.”

 

Souda nodded, asking his cigarette in the glass tray on their table. He shoved the pack into his pocket and stood up.

 

“Dunno how good they’re gonna be, Gundam’s vegan.”

 

Hinata shrugged, turning to talk to his best friend/roommate, “Vegan food’s getting kinda good these days.”

 

Souda rose an eyebrow at him, turning to slide the back door open, “Hajime, I’m no ultimate baker or anythin’, but I dunno how good a cookie can be without any eggs and butter.”

 

“I guess I’m just more open to new things,” Hinata said simply, shutting the door after them as they both entered the apartment. 

 

Suddenly, the fact that Hinata was bisexual stuck out in Souda’s mind. He blushed, embarrassed by the sudden intrusive thought. He’d never thought about the fact much since Hinata told him back in high school; there were many more interesting things about Hinata beyond his sexuality, like the fact that he had a driver’s license and a Playstation. But now that Souda had his own license and less interest in video games than when he was young, his mind seemed to want to dwell on the fact that Hinata was more “open” than him in more ways than one.

 

But was he?

 

Souda shook his head, beating the thoughts off. He said goodbye to Hinata before leaving the apartment and scurrying out to his car. He threw open the door of his entirely-customized yellow 2002 Subaru WRX, which ran like it came off of the line yesterday due to the sheer amount of work he (and to a lesser part, his father) put into improving the vehicle, which had arrived at their shop around the time Souda graduated high school. The paint had been rusted and chipped, the interior was in poor shape, and the mileage was extremely high. His father said he would help to put in a new engine as long as Souda took responsibility for the rest on his own. Thrilled that his father would even consider helping him, Souda spent every single day of the summer post-graduation working on his car to get it where he wanted it. Now, it had been totally reupholstered with a black leather interior and even fitted with a booming sound system, which he turned almost all the way up to drown out his mind’s curious wandering.

 

He arrived at Sonia’s complex in about four songs, taking the stairs up to her apartment and wrapping on the door with one knuckle. Asahina answered the door, as she was always wont to do. 

 

“Hey, Kazuichi!” she greeted, giving him a short hug, “We’re all hanging out in the living room, c’mon in!”

 

“Thanks, Aoi,” he said, laughing a little nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. 

 

Souda took off his shoes and followed the short, tan girl into the living room where he saw Sonia and Gundam sitting on the couch, conversing with a man sitting in a chair across from them whom he’d never seen before. He looked to be somewhere around Souda’s age. His hair was light green and cut short in the back so his multitude of ear piercings could be seen, but was left longer in the front so his bangs swept across his eyes. He was leaned back, arms crossed leisurely over his striped shirt. He looked up to Souda as he entered the room and stood to greet him.  

 

“Hey man, I’m Rantaro— Rantaro Amami,” he said, sticking out his hand for Souda to shake, which he did, “I’m Aoi’s friend from the gym.”

 

“We work there together!” Asahina added, “This is Sonia and Gundam’s friend, Kazuichi!”

 

Souda blushed a little at the fact that Asahina took it upon herself to introduce him, “It’s nice ta’ meet you.”

 

Amami nodded in agreement, giving him a cool smile. This guy was so laid back that it made Souda nervous about being the most high-strung person in the room, which didn’t help him feel any less high-strung. He swallowed dryly.

 

“Come sit down, Kazuichi!” Sonia said from the couch, gesturing to the spot next to Gundam. 

 

Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he nodded, avoiding Gundam’s eyes as he sat next to him for a reason he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) pinpoint. Asahina sat down on the couch’s ottoman to Souda’s left.

 

“So… what are we makin’ today?” Souda asked, looking over to Sonia.

 

“Butter cookies! They are my favorite and Gundam found a good vegan recipe!” 

 

Gundam looked over at Souda, “Like confectionary alchemists, we shall also combine the plain dough with various ingredients which will bestow a curse upon each batch which results in a differing flavor. Have you any preferences?”

 

Being addressed directly by Gundam caused Souda’s face to warm, “Uh, I-I dunno! What do you guys have?”

 

“We picked up matcha powder, strawberry syrup, chocolate powder, and some red bean paste! Though I believe we might have some almond extract in the cupboard if you would like,” said Sonia.

 

Souda thoughts about it for a moment, “Well they all sound good, but I think I’m gonna like the strawberry ones the best.”

 

Gundam let out a short chuckle of approval, “Hm, I approve. You have reasonable taste, Automaton Tamer.”

 

Souda laughed nervously and directed his eyes down to his hands so no one would see his blush forming. 

 

“So, I was getting ready to ask everyone something before you got here,” Amami said to Souda after a moment, leaning forward and settling his elbows on his knees.

 

“Ah yes! My apologies, Rantaro. Please, continue,” said Sonia.

 

He cleared his throat and shot a quick glance at the front door before looking back at them, as though he were making sure it was closed. Asahina shifted in her seat. 

 

“Well, I guess there’s no better way to ask than to just ask,” Amami said with a chuckle.

 

But he didn’t immediately ask any questions. Amami seemed to want to suspend them in their curiosity for a little while longer before speaking up:

 

“Do you guys wanna smoke some weed?”

 

No one said anything for a couple of seconds as the question settled over the room. Souda was confused, wondering if Amami was just fucking with them or if he just misspoke. Asahina looked at the three of them in silence as though she were also asking the question and awaiting their answers.

 

Sonia spoke up first, using her careful, slow voice she always used when she didn’t know how to proceed with a conversation, “As in… marijuana?”

 

Souda could have laughed; of course Amami didn’t mean _that_! 

 

Amami nodded, a patient smile on his face, “Yeah, one and the same.” 

 

Souda’s eyes widened. The silence washed over them again, but it was much more palpable. Asahina shifted anxiously, but Amami looked unfazed into Sonia’s nervous face. She laughed in a way that was probably supposed to be disarming, but it came out tense and breathy.

 

“Rantaro—

 

“Before you say no,” Asahina interjected quickly, speaking rapidly, “Me and Rantaro have already done it here and know a totally safe way to do it so we won’t get caught.”

 

Sonia stared at her with surprise, her mouth agape. She looked at Souda and Gundam, both of whom were gaping at her, awaiting her decision. Souda was somewhat familiar with the drug; Kuzuryu had told him about it. It wasn’t anything he advertised, but Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu was a member of the notorious Kuzuryu Clan, a group of yakuza who ran not only Towa City’s underbelly but practically controlled all of the nefarious activities being conducted around the region. Souda had been making a rare trip inside of Kuzuryu’s home during high school when he forgot his jacket. When he opened the closet door, the two boys came face to face with an enormous, clear trash bag full of the green buds. After that, Kuzuryu had to explain to Souda that it was probably the least harmful drug they were peddling and that he had even tried it once; Kuzuryu claimed it was actually a pleasant experience. He even told Souda about how it wasn’t even that big of a deal in other countries. Souda was wary of drugs, like most people he had ever met, but Souda had always secretly wanted to try it after that day. 

 

Sonia turned back to Amami, “I— You both— How— Where did you even _get_ marijuana?!”

 

Amami smirked and shrugged, “I know a guy. Look, it’s okay if you guys don’t wanna do it, but do you care if Me and Aoi do? Sakura’s gonna pick us up soon for yoga in the park and it’s fun when you’re stoned.”

 

Gundam tsked, “Fool. How could a mind-altering, psychosis-inducing substance be beneficial for such a meditative practice? You would surely be driven to insanity from the sheer amount of stimulus that occurs in a natural setting such as a park and rendered permanently impaired from the consumption of this accursed plant.”

 

Amami looked at Gundam and blinked for a moment before turning apologetically to Sonia. 

 

“I’m sorry, I don’t get what he’s trying to—

 

“He’s sayin’ that smokin’ weed is gonna make you go crazy, especially ‘cause yer gonna be in a park and all the stuff is gonna freak you out, I guess,” Souda said with an ease and immediacy that surprised even himself. 

 

Amami looked back at Gundam with pleasant surprise, “Oh man, I wasn’t expecting that from _you_ of all people! I thought you were all, like, against cultural norms and stuff.”

 

Gundam’s jaw worked for a moment before he slid his scarf over his nose, narrowing his eyes at Amami from over them. Amami looked as though he were calling out “checkmate” in his head. 

 

“Well, it’s not gonna make you go crazy, like, at all. Right, Aoi?”

 

Asahina nodded emphatically, “Yeah, it’s not like the media portrays it at all! You just get really giggly and floaty and _hungry_. Maybe even a little sleepy.”

 

“‘Floaty?’ What does ‘floaty’ mean?” asked Sonia, curiosity and exasperation lacing her tone.

 

Asahina looked at Amami to explain. “Well, your depth perception gets a little funny, but it’s not scary, I promise. It’s just sort of a far-away feeling. They use it as medicine in some other countries, you know.”

 

“Y-Yeah, I’ve heard it’s actually kinda cool,” Souda offered tentatively, earning a smile from Asahina and Amami. 

 

Gundam and Sonia looked at each other, communicating with each other without needing to speak. Sonia worried her lip from between her teeth and looked at Asahina.

 

“And you know how to do it without leaving a trace?”

 

Asahina smiled, “Well, you didn’t notice, did you?”

 

Sonia laughed at that, relaxing a little. 

 

“Besides,” Amami added, “most people don’t even actually know what it smells like.”

 

Sonia nodded and looked at Gundam again. He nodded as well, still hiding behind his scarf. Amami let out an audible breath and leaned back in his chair looking satisfied. Souda looked around at all of them. 

 

“So we’re gonna do it? Where at?” Souda asked.

 

Asahina stood up, “The bathroom! Give me a sec to move some things around.”

 

Rantaro stood as well and walked back to Asahina’s room, “It’s in my bag, I’ll be right back.”

 

The three of them didn’t look at each other for a few moments until Souda looked over at Gundam and Sonia. Sonia offered him an apprehensive little smile; Gundam dropped his scarf from his mouth but clasped his hands together, rolling his thumb rings anxiously. After another minute, Asahina called them back into the bathroom. She had closed and covered the vents by stuffing fabric softening sheets under a towel and taping the entire mechanism to the ceiling over either vent. 

 

“Come in, come in,” she beckoned them.

 

It was a rather spacious bathroom, especially for an apartment; Souda was a little envious. They were all able to fit themselves inside relatively comfortably with Amami perched on the lid of the closed toilet with his backpack between his feet, Asahina and Sonia sitting side-by-side in the bathtub, Gundam on the floor with his back against the door, and Souda leaning on the cupboard under the sink next to him. 

 

“Gundam, could you stuff that towel under the doorframe?” Asahina asked, pointing to an orange towel on the counter above Souda’s head.

 

Gundam nodded, getting up on his knees and leaning over Souda, who couldn’t help sneaking a glance up at the goth as he neared him. The smell of Gundam’s shampoo wafted by as he moved; Souda cleared his throat softly to clear the breath that caught in his throat. 

 

Once the room was sealed to satisfaction, Amami removed a small, wooden box from his backpack and flipped open the top. He reached into the box and procured from it a black lighter and what looked like one of the hand-rolled cigarettes he saw grandpas smoking around his old neighborhood. The contents of this cigarette, however, were clearly green. Amami licked his lips, took the joint between them, and flicked the lighter to spark the end of it while he inhaled slowly. He took an extra breath after taking it away from his lips— presumably to make sure he got the smoke in his lungs— and breathed it out from his nose, immediately smiling and handing it over to Asahina.

 

“It’s just like smoking anything else, but make sure you really take it into your lungs, ‘kay? Or else it won’t work,” Amami instructed. 

 

Sonia stared hard at Asahina as she took her own hit, almost as though she were trying to commit the method to memory so she could get it perfect the first time. Asahina coughed a little bit into her fist, passing the joint to Sonia. The blonde pinched the joint between her fingers and brought it up to her lips just as she took a breath through her nose. She retracted from it and covered her nose.

 

“Oh my goodness, that _smell_! How do you stand that?!” she bleated.

 

Asahina laughed a little too hard, smacking her knees, “Sonia, it’s fine, you’ll get used to it.”

 

Sonia looked doubtful but proceeded to take the hit. Her grey-green eyes widened and she let out a puff of smoke as she began coughing hard. Amami reached into his backpack and pulled out a water bottle, which he handed to Sonia. She gratefully took the bottle while simultaneously shoving the joint into Gundam’s hand. His eyes widened, but he took it between his fingers all the same, watching Sonia with a mixture of shock and concern as she drank the water furiously. She painted as she closed the bottle, but the coughing had stopped.

 

Gundam gasped, “Lady of Darkness, have you been possessed?! Your eyes, they have acquired a crimson halo indicative of infernal powers at play!”

 

It was true, the whites of Sonia’s eyes were rendered a slight shade of red and her lids were beginning to droop. She couldn’t help laughing as she craned her neck and looked at herself in the mirror.

 

“Gundam, Gundam, I am—,” she paused to try and stifle her laughter, “I am perfectly fine. Go ahead and try it.”

 

Gundam settled back into his spot slowly and looked at the thing between his fingers curiously, as though it were a bug he had pinched off of the floor. Tentatively, he brought the joint between his lips and took a puff from it before immediately blowing the smoke out. Amami shook his head.

 

“You have to breathe the smoke in or nothing will happen.”

 

The goth narrowed his mismatched eyes at Amami and smoked the joint as though it were a challenge he was determined to win. This undeserved confidence, however, resulted in Gundam sputtering the smoke out in a hard coughing fit, which Sonia handed him the water bottle to help with. Souda chuckled with Amami at this. Gundam nearly drank the rest of the bottle before setting it down next to him and wiping his face. Little tears had pricked the corners of his hazy eyes, a fact Souda noticed as Gundam looked at him and reached out to pass the joint on. There was a short moment of fumbling their fingers to get it properly transported since it had shrank quite a bit since it was initially lit. Souda blushed a little at the contact of their hands and tried to avoid Gundam’s eyes as he took his hit. 

 

It went much easier than the other two newbies due to the fact that Souda smoked cigarettes. He breathed the smoke deep into his lungs and exhaled in a narrow stream, passing it to Amami on his left as he did so. After coughing once or twice into his elbow, he leaned back against the cupboards and noted the way his head swam in a pleasing way. Asahina was right, the smell was easier to stand after a little while. The joint made its way around the circle one more time before reaching Souda as a tiny fraction of what it used to be. He and Gundam had to carefully press their thumbs together and turn their hands just so in order for Souda to be able to hold it without getting burned, a feat made harder by the fact that Gundam couldn’t help the way he was giggling uncontrollably. Souda smiled at the sound of his rare, natural laughter. 

 

“Here, Gundam, just— I got it,” Souda chuckled, finally pinching it between his thumb and forefinger. 

 

Gundam smiled back at Souda with lidded eyes and leaned against the bathroom door. Souda took his hit, the anxious impulse to look away from Gundam’s handsome face sounding off in his head but never coming to any fruition. He quite liked looking at Gundam; what use would it do to deprive himself of such a simple pleasure? A pink blush crawled across Gundam’s cheeks and he flitted his eyes to the side, pulling his scarf over his face. The impulse rang in his ears again but was quickly muffled by Souda’s mental admiration of Gundam’s forearms. Suddenly, a familiar, stinging pain nipped his fingers. The shock of being torn from his hazy little daydream and thrown into the surprising reality of having taken a very sizable hit and burning himself sent him into a coughing fit. The rest of them laughed good-naturedly at this 

 

Amami stood up his spot and opened up the lid of the toilet, “Just toss it in there, it’s too small to smoke anyhow.”

 

Souda did as he was instructed and flushed the remnants of the joint. Asahina lit a large bundle of sage in the window and opened it just a crack so that all of the weed smoke would gradually billow out along with the sage smoke. The five of them quickly exited the bathroom one-by-one to minimize the amount of smoke that entered the apartment. Asahina was the last one out and stuffed an additional towel under the jam from the outside. Sonia stuck her arms out to either side and spun around in the open space of the living room.

 

“I know what you mean now,” she said as she spun, “About feeling floaty.”

 

Souda assumed his previous spot on the couch, sinking into its comfort with so much pleasure that he almost didn’t notice Gundam taking his same spot too, despite the fact that he no longer had to sit next to Souda now that no one else was on the couch. As he sat, Gundam closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch, allowing his knees to comfortably part and cause his and Souda’s thighs to press together. Souda turned his head and let his eyes linger on the sharpness of Gundam’s jawline. 

 

Asahina giggled from the kitchen, “It’s nice, huh? You guys should listen to some music, Sakura will be here any minute for me and Rantaro.”

 

Amami rounded a corner, holding his and Asahina’s yoga bags, “We can just change at the gym, it’s across the street anyway.”

 

Souda only dimly listened to their conversation as his brain was much more focused on something else. His eyes had wandered down Gundam’s jaw, over his purple scarf, across his broad chest, and down his deceptively strong arms to his pale hand which lied tragically unoccupied on his thigh. Souda was possessed with the sudden urge to lace their fingers together; to lean his head against the solidity of Gundam’s shoulder. His fingers twitched at his side while his stoned mind madly deliberated over whether or not he should hold Gundam’s hand. Suddenly, the sound of a bell chimed in the apartment and made both he and Gundam jump.

 

Sonia laughed a little too hard from her place in the chair facing the couch, “D-Do not worry, boys! It is only the doorbell!”

 

Amami and Asahina wished them all goodbye and left the apartment laughing and discussing some work-related dramatics. Sonia stood up, still giggling for no discernible reason. 

 

“W-We should bake the cookies! I am starving.”

 

The events of the day had made Souda forget why he was even at Sonia’s apartment: to bake, not get baked. His mouth watered at the idea of a warm cookie and he stood up with her.

 

“Hell yeah, I’ll help ya’,” he said cheerfully, following her to the kitchen.

 

He felt his tongue moving as he spoke, heavy and sticky in his dry mouth. Souda peeked into the refrigerator as Sonia opened it to take out a couple of ingredients when he spotted a pitcher of yellow juice on the top shelf.

 

“Is that lemonade?” he inquired, already reaching in the cabinet behind him for a glass.

 

It took Sonia a moment to realize what he was referring to, but she shook her head and pulled the pitcher out, “It is pineapple juice! Please, pour me a glass as well, my mouth is so dry.”

 

Souda gasped and nodded as he grabbed another glass, “Me too!”

 

Sonia giggled again and looked across the counter and out into the living room at Gundam, who was still leaning his head back against the couch with his eyes closed. 

 

“Gundam,” she called.

 

The goth jumped, startled out of his thoughts. He sat up and looked into the kitchen at Sonia and Souda, obviously a little surprised. The two of them immediately cracked up at his expression, laughing hard. Gundam was very expressive when he wanted to be; even if he hid it behind a scarf half of the time. 

 

“D-Do,” Sonia had to pause to laugh some more and compose herself, “Do you want s-some juice?”

 

Souda was still snickering as he grabbed a third glass, regardless of Gundam not yet answering. 

 

“I was having the most remarkable and terrible experience just now,” Gundam said, getting up and walking a little strangely over to the counter that faced into the kitchen, “As I sat with my eyes closed, I perceived the most peculiar sensation. In all my life as a Merchant of the Darkness— a man of the Craft— I have never been able to communicate with my Devas independently of speech, let alone proximity! However, this herb has revealed a new ability of my Magicks: I can communicate telepathically with the Dark Devas of Destruction!”

 

The goth looked between both of them for some kind of reaction. Sonia and Souda both looked at each other with the same shocked look before they both dissolved into hysterical laughter at the idea of Gundam speaking with his hamsters with his mind alone. In fact, the prospect was so hilarious that Souda had to brace himself against the counter so he didn’t fall to the ground in a fit. Sonia leaned against him, laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face. Eventually, Gundam couldn’t help but laugh too and the three of them filled the apartment with the sounds of their stoned cackling. Souda wiped his eyes and proceeded to pour them all glasses of cold pineapple juice. He drank it quickly and gratefully, the sour sweetness of the juice intensified due to his state. In fact, it was so exceptionally delicious and satisfying that Souda poured himself a second helping and downed it with a quickness, eyes closed as he enjoyed the chill. 

 

Suddenly, as he swallowed the last gulp of the juice, he felt a pair of cold hands cup his cheeks. His eyes quickly shot open to behold Gundam holding his face and looking at him with intent seriousness. Souda’s heart hammered in his chest and his stomach swirled with butterflies; he slowly put the cup back down onto the counter. Gundam cocked his head and moved his face closer, staring into Souda’s eyes.

 

“I-I— What’s goin’ on, what’re you doin’?” Souda asked, voice wavering with nervousness.

 

“Your eyes,” Gundam began, his voice soft and easy, as though Souda were the only person that needed to hear him, “They have taken on the most peculiar shade. Your irises and sclera are almost precisely the same color.”

 

Sonia walked around the counter to look at Souda from Gundam’s perspective. She gasped softly.

 

“Yes, he is right! Your eyes are just _slightly_ darker.”

 

“How d’you guys keep talkin’ like that when yer high?” Souda mumbled, still staring back into Gundam’s eyes. 

 

Sonia smiled and went back to gathering cookie ingredients. Gundam looked at Souda for just a moment longer, his fingers sliding down Souda’s jaw before retreating and joining Sonia in the kitchen. The ghost of Gundam’s touch tingled on Souda’s skin; he touched the spot gently with the tips of his fingers. 

 

_I like him._

 

If not for the mental cushion the marijuana provided, Souda would have probably been sent into a small breakdown over the sudden, intrusive thought. But the gentle fuzziness of his stoned brain allowed the idea to settle and take root. 

 

“Kazuichi, come here and look at this,” Sonia said from behind him.

 

Had he been staring off into space? Souda shook the butterflies away and turned around to see her holding a small jar containing a translucent, gelatinous material which had numerous small, brown seeds floating in it. She shook the jar to make the jelly jiggle. Souda squinted his eyes at the stuff.

 

“What’s that? Hair gel ‘er somethin’?” he asked.

 

Sonia laughed, “No, this is a vegan egg substitute! We need to strain it so that the flax seeds will not be in the cookies. Do you want to help?”

 

Souda nodded, “Sure. How’s it an egg if it’s vegan?”

 

“Wash your hands,” she reminded him gently, “And it serves the same binding purpose for which eggs are usually used.”

 

Souda hardly listened to her explanation as he reveled in the feeling of the warm water on his hands. It was almost as though he had never truly appreciated the joy of touching water heated to a comfortable temperature before.

 

“I believe the common mortal method is to lather with soap next.”

 

Souda looked over his left shoulder to the source of the voice to see Gundam sifting flour into a mixing bowl as he smirked at Souda with a sideways glance. The mechanic blushed darkly and washed up. What were the repercussions of a look like that? Perhaps it was just the high. He dried his hands before turning back to Sonia. 

 

“Okay, hold this cheesecloth over the bowl,” she said, handing him a thin piece of white cloth.

 

Souda held it from either side and caught the gooey concoction as Sonia poured it over the cloth. When she finished, Souda wrapped it up on all four corners.

 

“Now what?”

 

“Squeeze the rest out!” she laughed.

 

Souda ‘oooh’d and began squeezing the chilled gel through. It was exactly like the slime he used to get out of plastic eggs from gashapons when he was a little kid. He made sure to knead the ball of gel and flaxseed until there was nothing left. Sonia thanked him and began to mix the rest of the wet ingredients with the egg substitute. Gundam slid her the bowl of dry ingredients and preheated the oven. Sonia loosely incorporated the ingredients with a wooden spoon before putting the mixing bowl in front of Souda.

 

“Combine it with your hands,” she instructed.

 

Souda nodded, eager to touch anything and everything in his state of mind. He worked the dough well, incorporating all of the ingredients and creating a pale ball yellow dough that smelled distinctly of real butter—despite the fact that it was also vegan. 

 

“Good,” Sonia said as she collected the flavorings, “Now divide all of that into four equal parts.”

 

Souda did so, trying meticulously to get the measurements totally right. He watched Gundam out of the corner of his eye as he walked back into the living room to light an incense. Sonia took the bowl of four small dough balls and incorporated the strawberry, matcha, chocolate, and red bean to each. Afterward, she pulled out some parchment paper, onto which she sprinkled flour and rolled out first the baby-pink strawberry dough. She reached into the drawer below her and procured four cookie cutters: a cat’s head, a donut, a star, and a heart. 

 

“We can cut out other shapes, too,” she offered. 

 

Music began to float into the kitchen from the living room. It was nothing Souda recognized, but it was soft and laced with an acoustic guitar. Sonia hummed to it as she stamped out various shapes; save the heart, which Souda seemed to be stuck on using. Soon, all of the strawberry dough they could use was gone, so they moved onto the light green matcha dough. 

 

Rolling and cutting out the cookies was an extremely pleasurable monotony that went by exceptionally quickly, especially after Gundam returned from his own little trip to the living room to help them. Finally, with the scarlet-colored red bean dough, they all decided to customize their own cookies. Souda tried his hand at making a screw, which came out looking like a little mushroom, so he tried again with a more practical wrench design. Sonia cut out a pentacle, which came out with surprising success, much to Souda’s slight dismay. Gundam created… a blob. 

 

“Oh, I get it— it’s a puddle, huh!” Souda exclaimed after scrutinizing the shape for a moment.

 

Gundam narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, “Fool! This dough here takes the precise visage of the semi-Cerberian shadow which looms behind the great hellbeast guarding the Seventh Circle!” 

 

Sonia nearly cracked up and had to cover her mouth when Gundam shot her an offended look, “Wh-Why would you just c—,” she had to pause to contain herself, “cut out the shape of the _shadow_? Why not the beast itself?”

 

He rolled his bloodshot, heterochromatic eyes as though the answer was the most obvious thing in the entire world, “ _Because_ , while he, in some ways, more enlightened than other mortals to the true nature of the Shadowrealm, I do believe it would be most irresponsible to bestow such symbols upon Kazuichi’s mortal eyes.”

 

A chill ran up his spine at Gundam’s usage of his first name. Why did that always get a reaction out of him? He hurriedly took his two attempts over to the baking sheet to hide his reddened face from the other two. Sonia continued on to tell Gundam that she didn’t think he could recreate any kind of image on cookie dough that could actually scare Souda, but Souda hardly paid attention to their conversation. A thought has bloomed within his mind, but he couldn’t think of a way to talk about it that made sense. Sonia eventually came beside him to put hers and Gundam’s cookies next to Souda’s when it became obvious that she had been asking him a question.

 

She smiled understandingly as she put the tray in the oven, probably because she realized he was just tuning in, “I said: Did you know that Junko has over nine-hundred-thousand followers on Instagram?! I mean, I knew she was a model, but I had no—

 

“How did you guys know you were gay?” Souda blurted.

 

Sonia widened her eyes and instantly looked at Gundam. They were having another one of those silent conversations they were always prone to having. Souda swallowed hard, now feeling a little cramped in the kitchen. He drummed his fingers on his pocket and— yes, cigarettes. 

 

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean ta’— Y’know what? I’m gonna go smoke a cigarette.”

 

“We will join you,” Sonia added before Souda could say anything else, “I do not partake, but we will come outside and keep you company if you would like.”

 

Souda considered saying no for just a moment but digressed to the fact that they would surely try to talk about it when he came back inside anyway. He nodded and they all walked out together. It was merely the early afternoon, though time felt like it was moving much slower. The fresh air felt impossibly refreshing. Souda sat on a chair in the far corner from the door, Gundam (much to Souda’s surprise) sat next to him, and Sonia took the seat across from Souda nearest to the door. They all sat in comfortable quiet as Souda procured a cigarette, stuck it in his mouth, lit it, took a drag, and blew the smoke out in a stream to his left, away from Gundam and Sonia. 

 

“Well,” Sonia started, flattening her long, black skirt over her thighs, “I suppose I have always known, in some way. It used to be something I explained myself away from. In Novoselic, people were always trying to set me up with a nice young man because of how “pretty” and “sweet” I was. Of course, I did not want any of that, so I immersed myself in learning— perhaps it would have taken me longer to become fluent in Japanese had everyone just let me be. Once I finally got here and Gundam and I got close, we had to, um, address the rumors that we were together.”

 

The mention of a romantic relationship between the two of them, regardless of how vastly unlikely—to the point of impossibility—still made his face color with jealousy, though now the feeling took on a different edge. 

 

Sonia continued, a warm, nostalgic smile on her face, “I had asked him why he never asked me out, but I just felt silly as I said it. It was the kind of thing that was so obvious to both of us that neither of us had to say anything. But he did indeed tell me! I believe we were the first people either of us had ever told.”

 

She turned to Gundam for confirmation and he nodded back, a little smile on his face as well. It was a sweet moment, sure, but Souda still had more pressing matters on his mind. 

 

“But, like, how do you guys know ya’ don’t like anythin’ else? Sure, y’know what yer’ into, but how can y’know what yer’ not into?” Souda felt like he was talking in circles, “Did that make sense?”

 

“I do not know how we know, all I know is that we know,” Sonia said with a shrug before laughing a little too hard at her accidental joke, “D-Did that make sense?” 

 

Souda laughed too, feeling a little more relaxed. He took another drag off of his cigarette and they all sat quietly again for a little while before Sonia spoke up again.

 

“However,” she added, “it is not the same case for everyone. Many people experience attraction to many genders.”

 

Souda nodded and thought about Hinata again. Perhaps he would be a better person to talk to about this. But, dammit, Souda wouldn’t be high, and therefore less anxious, by the time he saw Hinata next. He felt cold fingers tap his forearm and he looked over at Gundam.

 

Gundam gestured with two fingers toward him, “May I?”

 

He was asking for a drag from his cigarette, that much Souda could gather. He swallowed hard out of reflex and passed it over, watching as Gundam took a short drag before handing it back. Souda was fixed on the goth’s heterochromatic eyes and didn’t register the fact that his cigarette was being handed back to him.

 

“Yer’ eyes are crazy, man,” Souda thought aloud. 

 

Gundam looked at Souda, a little surprised. His face softened a moment later and he chuckled lowly, which slowly progressed into a more genuine giggle, then into a laugh until he was fully cracking up in a way that Souda had never witnessed before. In fact, Gundam was laughing so hard that Sonia couldn’t help busting up either. Souda wasn’t far behind, and while he wasn’t sure why exactly it was that they were laughing, he firmly believed it was the most he had laughed in a long time. Their sudden bout of hilarity was ended with equal severity as the timer from Sonia’s phone beeped to life. 

 

She gasped, “Yay! The cookies are done! I nearly forgot about them!”

 

Sonia sprang up and practically skipped inside. Gundam pushed the cigarette toward Souda’s hand.

 

“I could extinguish this if you desire, but I do not wish to assume…”

 

Souda looked down at the smoldering half-cigarette that Gundam was handing to him and plucked it from his fingers, “Oh, yeah, sorry.”

 

He took a final drag off of it before putting it out on the railing and putting the butt back into his pack. The apartment smelled intoxicatingly of baked goods when they entered. Souda practically lifted off of the ground and floated over to the bar across from the counter where Sonia was putting the cookies on cooling racks. Sonia’s pentacle cookie came out with shocking clarity, whereas the custom designs made by Souda had come out just about as recognizable as Gundam’s shadow-blob. Souda regarded them with a groan.

 

“Aw, man, my cookies totally came out like shit!” he bemoaned.

 

Sonia reached across the counter and patted his hand sympathetically, “Oh, do not say that, Kazuichi.”

 

Souda shook his head, “Don’t gimme that, Sonia. Look at the thing! The wrench looks like a weird bone or somethin’. How come yours came out so good?”

 

Sonia shrugged, giggling. Gundam reached a bandaged finger out toward his own blob to poke it when Sonia swatted it away.

 

“Do not touch them yet!” she scolded, “They are too warm.”

 

Gundam narrowed his eyes at her and muttered protests under his breath. The two men stared down at the racks of cookies with steely determination, almost as though their gazes would cause the cookies to cool faster. Sonia, in the meantime, poured the three of them tall glasses of cold soy milk. The two of them watched closely as she took her time serving the custom cookies onto a plate and setting aside the rest. As though they were dogs trained to wait until given their command, neither of them reached for a cookie until Sonia did herself. They were, shockingly, delicious. At the moment just before Souda put a cookie in his mouth, he remembered the fact that it had been made to be vegan and didn’t contain the conventional ingredients of a butter cookie. However, there was no discernible difference between this cookie and the sorts he had eaten from tins around the holidays. They all consumed their creations with ravenous silence; Rantaro was right about hunger being a side effect. Souda took a long drink from his glass of soy milk and sighed contentedly.

 

“Did you enjoy the red bean?” asked Sonia after taking a gulp from her glass, “This paste is better than others I have purchased in the past.”

 

Souda nodded, “Yeah, it’s pretty good. Can I try some of the others?”

 

Sonia nodded and served three of each remaining flavor into the plate they were sharing. Gundam and Souda tucked in immediately, both of them going for the same heart-shaped strawberry cookie and causing their fingers to brush. Souda retreated his hand quickly with a nervous chuckle. Gundam smirked and grabbed the cookie. He appraised it for just a moment before looking back to Souda and holding the cookie out to him. Souda’s face flushed, eyes widening as he tried to comprehend.

 

“I-I, what?” he stammered, “N-No! I want you ta’ have it, you reached first! I shoulda’ just let ya’ go for it from the beginning! S-Sorry, still kinda high, y’know? Ha-ha!”

 

Gundam just looked at him coolly, still holding the cookie out for Souda to take, “That might be true, but it seems your soul yearns for this symbol. There was a sort of resolve in your reaching for it which I have seen clearly many times before. Go on, take it.”

 

Souda’s anxiety spiked a little inside of him, bubbling out of his mouth as a laugh, “Ha! C-C’mon man, it’s just a cookie! I was just reachin’ for it cuz I wanted a strawberry one, not cuz it’s a heart!”

 

He darted his eyes down to the plate and reached for the first strawberry cookie he saw: a cat. Gundam smirked and Souda felt the blush on his face persistently heat. 

 

“S-See, now I’ve got one too. So go ahead and just keep that one, okay?” 

 

Gundam chuckled his low, rumbling chuckle and reached out, plucking the cat cookie from Souda’s fingers and replacing it with the heart. Before Souda could react, Gundam bit one of the ears off of the cat with a cheeky smirk.

 

Now Souda’s face had to be pink as his hair, he was sure about that. He devoured the cookie hastily and turned away his warm face. 

 

“How is it?” Sonia asked as she reached for a chocolate cookie.

 

Souda blinked as he looked at her, mouth still half-full, “How’sh wha?”

 

Sonia chuckled, “The cookie, Kazuichi.”

 

“Oh!” he said, quickly chewing and swallowing through his embarrassment, “I-It was good.”

 

Sonia nodded and bit into her chocolate cookie, “Hmm, perhaps we should have made frosting and sandwiched some of the shapes! That will be a good idea for the holidays, don’t you agree, Gundam?”

 

The two chatted merrily as ever while Souda busied himself with cookies and milk. The frenzy of feelings made Souda realize that the fuzzy walls of his high were fading slowly; he felt rather sleepy. Souda pulled one of the stools from beneath the bar and slid into it, watching Sonia and Gundam talk with his chin rested in his palm. He tried to listen at first, but the attempt was quickly disregarded to put a more concerted effort toward keeping his eyes open. This, however, failed as well. Souda’s eyelids drooped so heavily that it felt almost like a Herculean feat to try and keep them open. 

 

“Kazuichi? Kazuichi?”

 

He jumped, eyes shooting open as he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Sonia retracted her hand and gave him an apologetic look.

 

 “Are you feeling okay? Would you like to lie down?”

 

Souda nodded, standing up and stretching, “Yeah, that’d be cool, thanks. Sorry for gettin’ all tired.”

 

“It is no problem! Go ahead and take the couch,” she said, walking along with him into the living room, “Gundam and I will go to my room, we will wake you in a while.”

 

Souda thanked her and lied down on the couch, rubbing his face into the softness of the throw pillow as he shut his eyes. He was nearly comfortable when he heard a low clearing of the throat above him. Souda opened an eye to see Gundam standing over him holding a blanket and pillow. Was it just him, or did Gundam’s face looks a little pink? Souda sat up quickly to take the things out of Gundam’s arms.

 

“H-Hey, thanks man,” he said, reaching out to grab the bundle when Gundam lifted it just out of his reach. 

 

“Do not trouble yourself with rising, pink-featured master of mechanism, it does not perturb me to affix your temporary bedding for you,” Gundam said somewhat nobly, taking advantage of Souda’s sitting up by setting the pillow down, “I insist you lie back down. Do not feel threatened in a vulnerable supine position for, while I understand the sentiment, nothing will afoul you here.”

 

Souda couldn’t so easily translate all of that gibberish in his semi-stoned state, but he about got the gist of the fact that Gundam wanted him to lay back down. He slowly rested his head on the pillow, watching Gundam as he did so. Gundam nodded with approval as Souda finished doing as instructed, unfolded the blanket, shook it out, and threw it over him. Souda suddenly understood Gundam’s incessant habit of covering his face with the nearest fabric when he pulled the blanket up and over his nose to shield his ever-blushing face. 

 

“Thanks,” Souda rasped.

 

Gundam nodded, “Again, it is no trouble. I do not suppose you desire to be ‘tucked in’? It is what my siblings enjoy and I understand it is customary to aid in mortal comfort.”

 

Souda stared at him for a few seconds, not fully understanding that Gundam was joking until he chuckled and began to walk away.

 

“I bid you the sweetest of dreams,” Gundam called as he walked to the other side of the apartment. 

 

“Yeah, you too,” Souda called back before pausing for a moment as he realized what he said, “Aw fuck, wait.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me start off by saying that i know marijuana is extremely illegal in japan and that trying to _actually_ consume it out there is a much trickier feat than i’ve made it out to be. that being said, thank you all so much for sticking it out with me!! i know i said i wanted to get most of this fic done during the summer, but i did a bit of traveling and didn’t have a lot of time to sit down and work on this chapter. sorry for the long wait, i hope to get the next one out much sooner. thanks again <333


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